Тыва тайга кызы

Welcome back to Polar Times! This week Jack is joined by Tayana Arakchaa, a cultural anthropologist and postdoctoral fellow at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, currently working on the importance of Antarctic krill to food security in the former Soviet Union.

As well as discussing her current research we chat all about the understudied nomadic indigenous groups of the Tyva Republic in Siberia (where Tayana originally hails from, "Тыва тайга кызы" meaning "Daughter of the Tuvan taiga"), particularly the human-animal relations among Tozhu reindeer hunter-herders from the north of the province. Tayana tells us all about her experiences of riding reindeer through the taiga forests of Siberia with the Tozhu! This is not one to miss!

As usual, if you would like to get in contact with Polar Times to recommend a guest, volunteer to be a guest, give us some feedback or just ask a question then you can email us (thesearepolartimes@gmail.com) or tweet APECS @Polar_Research any time- we would love to hear from you.

Episode edited by Elise Gallois

Cover art by Matthew Nelson

Music: "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA