The Sakha - traditional cattle and horse pastoralists and one of the largest ethnic minorities in Siberia - hold a unique position in human adaptation. This book focuses on the cultural history, productivity, and flexibility of the human-nature relationships long cultivated by the Sakha, and studies the lives of the Sakha in post-socialist Russia.

Hiroki Takakura analyses how a culture was formed and experienced changes, and how it is maintained today, and combines multiple anthropological perspectives to illustrate how the Sakha have adapted as their society has become increasingly interconnected with global forces since the fall of the Soviet Union. As an ethnography of Sakha society - and of regional evolution and human adaptability in an Arctic environment - this book studies the formation of cultural diversity and uncovers unknown cultural histories in Asia across the Arctic.