Reindeer's Ear-Marks and History of Reindeer-Herding Society : A Historical Description of Sami (Lapp) Reindeer-Herding Society in Utsjoki (Ohcejohka), Northernmost Finnish Lapland

Abstract

Reindeer-herding society consists of a close interrelationship between reindeer-herders' group-structure and reindeer herd-structure. Therefore, when we investigate the social structure of herding society and its history, we can and should examine both the herder' group-structure and reindeer herd-structure. This article intends to examine the structure and historical transition of Sami (Lapp) reindeer-herding society from the latter, namely the reindeer herd-structure. In concrete terms, I intend to examine how reindeer-herding society has expressed its own structure and history in the reindeer herd.