Abstracts
Abstract
Once avoided on both sides of the Bering Strait, wild mushrooms are now considered to be delicious edibles in Chukotka. An important food source, mushroom-gathering is also a recreational activity that cultivates particular relationships between people and the land. In the past, prior to the influences of the mushroom-loving Russian cuisine, the Yupiget of Chukotka regarded mushrooms as “devil ears,” while the Chukchi people largely viewed them as reindeer food, unfit for human consumption. This article examines the transformation in Yupik and Chukchi ideas about mushrooms in the context of a broader ethnohistorical overview. Using the narratives shared by Yupik, Chukchi, and non-indigenous residents of Chukotka, it highlights the role of cultural identity in shaping landscape perceptions, demonstrating how during and after the Soviet period members of each group were finding their own distinct ways of relating to the ecological universe, transformed by new political processes and vast social changes.
Résumé
Alors qu’on les évitait autrefois de chaque côté du détroit de Béring, les champignons sont tenus maintenant pour mangeables et délicieux en Tchoukotka. Source de nourriture importante, la collecte des champignons est aussi une activité de loisirs qui renouvelle les relations particulières que les gens entretiennent avec le territoire. Par le passé, avant l’influence de la cuisine russe friande de champignons, les Yupiget de Tchoukotka considéraient ces derniers comme des «oreilles de diable» alors que les Tchoukches s’accordaient à les voir comme de la nourriture pour renne, impropre à la consommation humaine. Cet article examine la transformation des conceptions yupik et tchouktche des champignons dans le cadre d’un contexte ethnohistorique plus large. À l’aide de récits que nous ont confiés des résidents yupik, tchouktches et non-autochtones de Tchoukotka, il met l’accent sur le rôle de l’identité culturelle dans la formation de la perception du paysage. Il démontre comment, durant et après la période soviétique, des membres de chacun de ces trois groupes trouvaient leur façon propre et distincte de se connecter à leur univers écologique, un univers transformé par des processus politiques nouveaux et de vastes changements sociaux.
Appendices
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