Abstracts
Abstract
Based on examples from Chukotka’s history, this article focuses on a comparison between the early Soviet period and the years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in order to analyse points of distinction and surprising similarities between the two periods. This article compares the events of the two periods and uses the concept of “path-dependency” as an analytical tool to explain the discrepancy between statements of democracy/market-economy and the continued Soviet way of thinking in order to examine the widespread state of powerlessness and passivity among Chukotka’s Indigenous population and the inertia of progression in the bureaucratic system. The article also highlights the importance of the Indigenous elite. In the early years of the Soviet era, the elite underwent suppression and subjugation, which among other things led to an incipient powerlessness and passivity among the Indigenous people in Chukotka. During the past few decades, new up-coming Eskimo (Yupik) and Chukchi elites have begun to launch a number of embryonic initiatives with a non-Soviet origin.
Résumé
Introduisant quelques exemples tirés de l’histoire de la Tchoukotka et se concentrant sur une comparaison entre le début de la période soviétique et les années suivant la chute de l’Urss, cet article analyse les différences et les similarités surprenantes entre ces deux périodes. Dans le but d’examiner l’état d’impuissance et de passivité répandu parmi la population autochtone de la Tchoukotka et l’apathie qui caractérise le système bureaucratique, cet article compare les événements des deux périodes et emploie le concept de path dependency («dépendance de l’itinéraire») comme outil analytique afin d’expliquer le décalage entre les discours sur la démocratie ou l’économie de marché et la façon de penser soviétique omniprésente. Cet article souligne également l’importance de l’élite autochtone. Au début de l’époque soviétique, l’élite fut réprimée et subjuguée. Cette persécution a marqué le début d’un sentiment d’impuissance et de passivité parmi la population autochtone de la Tchoukotka. Au cours des dernières décennies, les élites yupik et tchouktche se sont néamoins régénérées avec pour conséquence l’éclosion de quelques premières initiatives non-soviétiques.
Appendices
References
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