In the Arctic nomads’ perception, the uncertainty and anxiety caused by external natural and social circumstances is counterbalanced by certainty relied on their own capabilities and resources of the nomadic tradition, on cultural and economic autonomy based on reindeer herding and maneuverability. The study of these internal resources, their components and links can be facilitated by the method of nomadography focused on the notions borrowed directly from nomadic practice and mentality (in contrast to philosophically distilled nomadology). The author's method of nomadography, conventionally called MTA (mapping-tracking-acting), involves the recording of movement by means of cartography and GPS monitoring with photo-video support. Arctic nomadism presented in three Eurasian tundras – Chukotka, Yamal and Kola peninsulas – varies depending on the landscape, proximity to seashores, mountains and forests, as well as settled groups, administrative centers and industrial sites. The Yamal Nenets one still retains the traditional technologies of large-scale nomadic reindeer herding with relevant beliefs and ethics; the Chukotka experience opens up a matrix of multi-level mobility according to “division of labor” among pastoralist sub-groups with varying patterns of movement; the Kola (Sami and Izhma-Komi) case includes transport-technological mixture of old and new means with trend toward business and consumerism. Recently published nomadographic monograph “Arctic: Atlas of Nomadic Technologies” may give an example of this kind of database and methodological kits. The nomadic tradition contains the whole array of concepts including joint space-time continuity, transformer, techno-animation, material austerity, etc., which, on the one hand, are ultimately practical and, on the other, deserve a theoretical projection. Arctic nomadography contributes both an empirical database and theoretical platform viewing the balance of mobility and stability in today nomadism via indigenous design.
