7 - Life in Tunguska

Summary

This chapter concentrates on the environmental engagement of the people who went on the voluntary expeditions. Focusing on the diverse cultural products of participants and the rich experiences that many had in the field, it shows how the Tunguska site helped create an autonomous sphere within late Soviet society. It was also a place where people developed a distinctive form of ecological sensibility. Voluntary researchers felt that time in the taiga led to deeper connections among people and with the rest of the natural world. Both the totality of social life during fieldwork and the evolution of the Complex Amateur Expedition (KSE) as an organization feature here as well.