ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the epistemological possibilities for a category such as heritage, which is sustained by an international effort to promote the value of certain human cultural achievements to play a positive role in the re-conceptualization and preservation of reindeer husbandry in Russia. It explores discourses and practices of reindeer herding within the framework of heritage, focusing on one particular part of the Russian North. The Kola Peninsula is home to two ethnically different reindeer herding cultures, only one of which has been officially acknowledged as indigenous by contemporary Russian legislation, and thus entitled to support for developing its traditional culture. The chapter reflects upon the question of reindeer herding's cultural and ethnic authenticity, forged by the preoccupation of heritage with this authenticity. The effort to establish a relationship between reindeer herding and heritage is not new in Russia, such as: "Reindeer herding is a masterwork of intangible heritage in the human world".
