Finno-Ugric Indigenous Knowledge, Hybridity and Co-Creation in Research: The Komi Case

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the effect of hybridity in the Komi hunters' knowledge system as well as the potential for mutual understanding in dialogue between ethnographers and their Indigenous partners. I discuss how the hunters exploit printed sources, both scholarly works and popular magazines, in their practice. In the empirical part of this study, I present three case studies that demonstrate different ways in which a potential hybridity of knowledge has appeared in a field encounter. The analysis shows that some pieces of the hunters’ knowledge have a background in written sources, while they present scholarly evidence as facts from their own lives. At the same time, some similarities between the hunters' narratives and publications are possibly random. I argue that exploitation of scholarly works and popular publications by hunters brings together Indigenous and scholarly knowledge and supports the potential of collaborative research.