Natasha Fijn: Living with herds collection
Metadata
identifier
f65fedaf-c884-4af3-8b0f-7b6cb6dec3a9
type
Collection
coverage
Mongolia
description
Videos and images about human-animal coexistence in Mongolia by visual anthropologist Natasha Fijn (https://vimeo.com/fijnproductions/about). The items in this collection were mainly published as supplementary materials for Fijn’s book “Living with herds: Human-animal coexistence in Mongolia”, which discusses the nature of human-animal interactions among Mongolian pastoralists, suggesting that Mongolians have co-evolved with domesticated livestock species. Natasha Fijn’s research crosses often preconceived boundaries between human-nonhuman, nature-culture, domestic-wild, ethnography-ethology, and written ethnography-visual anthropology. She has a background in both wildlife and ethnographic filmmaking, including a postgraduate diploma in Natural History Film and Communication and she has worked on natural history documentaries that have been distributed worldwide. Natasha is passionate about communicating cross-species, cross-cultural ideas, not only in written form but also through other media, using film and photography as an integral part of demonstrating the results of her research. She completed her PhD thesis in 2008 within the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. The field research for the thesis, and footage for a film that formed an integral part of this research, was obtained over twelve months in 2005, while she lived with two herding families in the Khangai mountains of Mongolia. The book “Living with herds” is a result of her year of living with Mongolian herders and their herd animals.
Items
Excerpt from “Living with Herds”
Fijn, Natasha
This extract from the publisher presents the introductory pages from “Living with Herds: Human-animal coexistence in Mongolia”. Natasha Fijn describes her entry into the field.
Winter: Figures from “Living with Herds”
Fijn, Natasha
Spring: Figures from “Living with Herds”
Fijn, Natasha
Summer: Figures from “Living with Herds”
Fijn, Natasha
Autumn: Figures from “Living with Herds”
Fijn, Natasha
Khangai Herds 1- Saikhanaa the Herder
Fijn, Natasha
This first segment introduces the young Mongolian herder Saikhanaa. He lives with his mother in a herding encampment with a more prosperous family, Choijo and Naraa’s extended family.
subject: Living with Herds, Saikhanaa, co-domestic relationship, herd animals, herding, human-animal relations, khangai herds, mountains, observational film, pastoralism, singing, visual ethnography
Khangai Herds 2- Saikhanaa and the Calves
Fijn, Natasha
This second segment of Khangai Herds features Saikhanaa the herder interacting with yak calves during milking time in the Khangai mountains of Mongolia.
subject: Khangai Herds, Living with Herds, calves, co-domestic, ethnography, human-animal, milking, observational film, pastoralism, visual , yaks
Khangai Herds 3- Saikhanaa and the Horses
Fijn, Natasha
This is the third installment of Khangai Herds, featuring herders and herd animals in the Khangai Mountains of Mongolia. This segment follows on from ‘Saikhanaa and the Calves’.
subject: Living with Herds, airag, co-domestic, domestication, horses, human-animal, khangai herds, mare milking, milking, mountains, observational film, pastoralisms, visual
Khangai Herds 4- moving encampments
Fijn, Natasha
This fourth segment of Khangai Herds features two separate nomadic family encampments in the valleys of the Khangai mountains of Mongolia.
subject: Living with Herds, co-domestic, domestication, encampment, ethnography, herd animal, herding, human-animal, khangai herds, observational film, ox, pastoralism, pasture, visual , yak
Khangai Herds 5 - Lhagva the Herder
Fijn, Natasha
This is the fifth segment of ‘Khangai Herds’, featuring herders and their herd animals co-existing together in the Khangai mountains of Mongolia. Lhagva sings a song about her venerable mother.
subject: Living with Herds, animal naming, calf birth, co-domestic, domestication, herding, human-animal, khangai herds, making, observational film, pastoralism, singing
Khangai Herds 6- A Day in the Life
Fijn, Natasha
This sixth segment of Khangai Herds features a day in the life of a Mongolian herding woman, who has ten children and twenty-six grandchildren.
subject: Living with Herds, co-domestic, domestication, encampment, ethnography, family encampment, herding, human-animal, khangai herds, nomadic, nurturing animals, observational film, pastoralism, reciprocal, visual , wolf
Khangai Herds 7- Medicinal Treatment
Fijn, Natasha
This segment of Khangai Herds shows how the Mongolian herder, Lhagva, treats her herd animals using medicinal herbs.
subject: Living with Herds, animal care, co-domestic, domestication, ethnography, goat, human-animal, khangai herds, lamb and kids, magic medicine, medicinal herbs, observational film, pastoralism, visual
Khangai Herds 8- Training for Naadam
Fijn, Natasha
The eighth segment of Khangai Herds features the training of racehorses for the national festival of Mongolia, the Naadam.
subject: Living with Herds, Naadam, co-domestic, domestication, ethnography, horse, horse training, human-animal, khangai herds, observational film, pastoralism, racehorses, racing, visual
Khangai Herds 9- The Naadam
Fijn, Natasha
This ninth segment of Khangai Herds features an important event on any Mongolian herder’s calendar: the Naadam. This is a festival celebrating the strength and prowess of herder and horse.
subject: Khangai Herds, Living with Herds, Naadam, ceremony, domestication, ethnography, festival, horse, horse racing, jockey, observational film, pastoralism, racehorse, visual , wrestling
Khangai Herds- winter racing
Fijn, Natasha
Near the capital of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, horses and jockeys race in winter temperatures of more than minus 30 degrees Celcius.
subject: Khangai Herds, Living with Herds, Naadam, domestic animal, ethnography, horse, horseracing, human-animal, jockeys, observational film, winter
Living with Herds Vocalisation Dictionary
Fijn, Natasha
This is a visual dictionary showing how Mongolian herders vocalise to their herd animals, followed by the response of the herd animal(s).
subject: domestication, herd animals, herder, human-animal, khangai herds, observational film, vocalisations
Mongolian Seterlekh Ceremony
Fijn, Natasha
The seterlekh ceremony is an anti-sacrifice, where an individual animal is liberated from being killed for meat.
subject: Buddhism, blessing, ceremony, cow, lama, pastoralisms, seter, yak
Living with Herds: Human-animal coexistence in Mongolia
Fijn, Natasha
From the publisher: Domestic animals have lived with humans for thousands of years and remain essential to the everyday lives of people throughout the world.