"Aboriginal Siberia"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the book, "Aboriginal Siberia: A Study in Social Anthropology" by M.A. Czaplicka, and shows that the main argument that the author makes is that there are true aboriginal tribes of Siberia like the ones in Australia and Africa. It looks at how this ethnography is the first to portray and classify all the tribes of Siberia and how the author classifies all Siberian tribes into two groups, the Palaeo-Siberians and Neo-Siberians. It explores how the biggest part of Czaplicka's ethnology is devoted to describing marriage customs and ceremonies of the Siberian tribes.

From the Paper:

"The Turkic tribes are forced into endogamy due to their poor living conditions and extremely harsh climate, even for Siberia. The presence of bridewealth and dowry is a tradition that is shared by Turkic and Mongolic tribes, due to the common Middle-Asian roots. Unlike the Tungus, Turkic tribes try to preserve the virginity of the future brides by making them wear "chastity girdles"( Czaplicka,108); this is done to receive a higher bridewealth from the future husband. The Turks practice seizing of the bride just like the Kamchadal and Koryak tribes, however the bride does not try to get away but instead has a full consensus to being taken."

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