Occupational and household activities of the kalmyks at fisheries in the Second half of the 19th century

Abstract

The article studies the specific features of working and household activities of the Kalmyks employed at fisheries. As an auxiliary sector of economy, fishing has always been present among the Kalmyks, but those were social and economic processes accompanied by impoverishment of some Kalmyk herdsmen that largely determined its development in the latter part of the 19th century. The seasonal engagement in fishing resulted in changes of the material culture of the Kalmyks. Their basic living conditions have also been analyzed. Of special interest are the issues related to formation of professional skills of ex-nomads at fisheries, the role of food in the adaptation of the Kalmyk seasonal workers. Thus, by the late 19th century a large part of the manpower at fisheries of Astrakhan Governorate were ethnic Kalmyks. Engaged in the most low-wage and unskilled work of seine fishing, the Kalmyks achieved the pinnacle in an irrelevant industry. In subsequent years, those were Kalmyks — due to their tirelessness and unpretentiousness — that would be given preference to by fish dealers when they employed workers.