Abstracts
Abstract
As were other regions of Russia’s North, Chukotka (Chukotskii avtonomnyi okrug) was subjected to dramatic changes during the last century. Among the major long-lasting impacts for the Chukchi and Siberian Yupik Indigenous populations was a state-implemented village relocation policy that deemed dozens of historic settlements “unprofitable”, thus subject to forced closure and resettlement. Traumatic loss of homeland, the curbing of native patterns of (maritime) mobility, and the vanishing of traditional socioeconomic structures sent devastating ripples through the fabric of Indigenous communities, with disastrous results on societal health. To explore the intricate relationships between state-enforced resettlement and landscape interaction, particularly the perception and utilization of the environment, it is critical to look closely at Chukotka’s coastal environment. The article argues that the unique coastal landscape of Chukotka has influenced—while mitigating—the effects of the forced relocations. Improvised design and the reclaiming of formerly closed settlement sites play a paramount role here, with the reoccupation of old settlement niches representing a reconnection with a lost relationship to the littoral environment. The contemporary inhabitation and utilization of formerly closed villages show how the coastal landscape represents not only a “reservoir” in an ecological sense, but also a littoral reserve by providing the space for alternatives outside the congregated communities. Displacement destroys the sense of community, but in a reverse logic, a sense of community can also be established through renewed emplacement. The creation of autonomous social spaces is therefore part of an ongoing spatial resistance that actively uses the ecological niches of a coastal landscape to counter the long-lasting and detrimental effects of state-enforced resettlement policies.
Keywords:
- Chukotka,
- Chukchi,
- Siberian Yupik,
- settlements,
- displacement,
- resistance,
- mobility,
- hunting camps,
- coastal landscape
Résumé
Comme d’autres régions du nord de la Russie, la Tchoukotka (Čukotskij Avtonomnyj Okrug) a subi des changements spectaculaires au cours du siècle dernier. Parmi les principaux impacts durables pour les populations autochtones Tchouktches et Yupik de Sibérie figure une politique de relocalisation des villages mise en oeuvre par l’État, qui a jugé que des dizaines des hameaux historiques n’étaient pas « rentables » et qui devaient donc être fermés et relocalisés de force. La perte traumatisante du territoire d’origine, la limitation des modèles autochtones de mobilité (maritime) et la disparition des structures socio-économiques traditionnelles ont eu des effets dévastateurs sur le tissu social des communautés autochtones, avec des conséquences désastreuses sur la santé de la société. Pour explorer les relations complexes entre la réinstallation forcée par l’État et l’interaction avec le paysage, en particulier la perception et l’utilisation de l’environnement, il est essentiel d’examiner de près l’environnement côtier de la Tchoukotka. Cet article soutient que le paysage côtier unique de la Tchoukotka a influencé, tout en les atténuant, les effets des relocalisations forcées. La conception improvisée et la récupération de sites de peuplement autrefois fermés jouent ici un rôle primordial, la réoccupation d’anciennes niches de peuplement représentant une reconnexion avec une relation perdue avec l’environnement littoral. L’occupation et l’utilisation contemporaines de villages autrefois fermés montrent comment le paysage côtier représente non seulement un « réservoir », au sens écologique du terme, mais aussi une réserve littorale en offrant un espace pour des alternatives en dehors des communautés rassemblées. Le déplacement détruit le sens de la communauté, mais dans une logique inverse, un sens de la communauté peut également être établi par un nouvel emplacement. La création d’espaces sociaux autonomes fait donc partie d’une résistance spatiale permanente qui utilise activement les niches écologiques d’un paysage côtier pour contrer les effets durables et néfastes des politiques de réinstallation imposées par l’État.
Mots-clés:
- Tchoukotka,
- Tchouktche,
- Yupik de Sibérie,
- peuplements,
- déplacement,
- résistance,
- mobilité,
- camps de chasse,
- paysage côtier
Аннотация
Как и другие регионы Севера России, Чукотка (Чукотский автономный округ) за последнее столетие претерпела кардинальные изменения. Среди основных долгосрочных последствий для чукчей и сибирских эскимосов-юпик была проводимая государством политика переселения, в соответствии с которой десятки исторических поселений были признаны «нерентабельными» и поэтому подлежали принудительному закрытию, а их жители – переселению. Травматическая потеря родины, сдерживание местных моделей морской мобильности и исчезновение традиционных социально-экономических структур стали причинами разрушительных изменений повседневности общин коренных народов, что привело к катастрофическим последствиям для здоровья общества. Для изучения сложных взаимосвязей между принудительным переселением со стороны государства и взаимодействием с ландшафтом, особенно с восприятием и использованием окружающей среды, крайне важно внимательно изучить прибрежную среду Чукотки. В статье утверждается, что уникальный прибрежный ландшафт Чукотки повлиял на последствия вынужденного переселения – смягчил их. Импровизированная структура и рекультивация ранее закрытых поселений играют здесь первостепенную роль, при этом повторное занятие старых поселений представляет собой восстановление связей с локальной прибрежной средой. Современное заселение и использование ранее закрытых деревень демонстрируют, что прибрежный ландшафт представляет собой не только «резервуар» в экологическом смысле, но и прибрежный заповедник, предоставляя пространство для альтернативных социальных практик за пределами Собранных сообществ. Переселение разрушает чувство общности, но в обратной логике чувство общности также может быть установлено посредством нового заселения. Таким образом, создание автономных социальных пространств является частью продолжающегося пространственного сопротивления, которое активно использует экологические ниши прибрежного ландшафта для противодействия долгосрочным и пагубным последствиям государственной политики переселения.
Ключевые слова:
- Чукотка,
- чукчи,
- сибирские эскимосы-юпик,
- поселения,
- перемещение,
- сопротивление,
- мобильность,
- охотничьи стоянки,
- прибрежный ландшафт
Appendices
References
- Anderson, John, 2004 “Talking Whilst Walking: A Geographical Archaeology of Knowledge.” Area 36 (2): 254–261.
- Bogoslovskaia, Liudmila, 1993 “List of the Villages of the Chukotka Peninsula (2000 B.P. to Present).” Beringian Notes 2, no. 2 (December): 1–12.
- Bolotova, Alla, and Florian Stammler, 2008 “How the North Became Home: Attachment to Place Among Industrial Migrants in Murmansk Region.” In Migration in the Circumpolar North: New Concepts and Patterns, edited by C. Southcott and L. Huskey, 193–220. Edmonton, Canada: Canadian Circumpolar Institute Press.
- Casey, Edward S., 1996 “How to Get from Space to Place in a Fairly Short Stretch of Time: Phenomenological Prolegomena.” In Senses of Place, edited by S. Feld and K. H. Basso, 13–52. Santa Fe, CA: School of American Research Press.
- Casey, Edward S., 2001 “Between Geography and Philosophy: What Does it Mean to be in the Place-World?” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 91, no. 4 (December): 683–93.
- Chlenov, Mikhail A., and Igor I. Krupnik, 2016 “Naukan: Glavy k istorii [Naukan: Chapters Towards History].” In Kul’turnoe nasledie Chukotki: problemy i perspektivy sokhraneniia [Save and Preserve: The Cultural Heritage of Chukotka: Problems and Prospects for Conservation], edited by M. M. Bronshtein, 38–73. Moscow—Anadyr: Gosudarstvennyi muzei Vostoka.
- Chichlo, Boris, 1981 “Les Nevuqaghmiit ou la fin d’une ethnie.” Études Inuit Studies 5 (2): 29–47.
- Csonka, Yvon, 2007 “Le peuple yupik et ses voisins en Tchoukotka: huit décennies de changements accélérés.” Études Inuit Studies 31 (1-2): 7–23.
- Demuth, Bathsheba, 2019 Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
- Edensor, Timothy J., 2008 “Walking Through Ruins.” In Ways of Walking: Ethnography and Practice on Foot, edited by T. Ingold and J. L. Vergunst, 123–142. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
- Feld, Steven, and Keith H. Basso, eds., 1996 Senses of Place. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.
- Grant, Bruce, 1995 In the Soviet House of Culture: A Century of Perestroika. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Gray, Patty, 2005 The Predicament of Chukotka’s Indigenous Movement: Post-Soviet Activism in the Far North. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Gray, Patty, 2007 “Chukotka’s Indigenous Intellectuals and Subversion of Indigenous Activism in the 1990s.” Études Inuit Studies 31 (1-2): 143–162.
- Habeck, J. Otto, 2013 “Learning to Be Seated: Sedentarization in the Soviet Far North as a Spatial and Cognitive Enclosure.” In Nomadic and Indigenous Spaces: Productions and Cognitions, edited by J. Miggelbrink, J. O. Habeck, P. Koch, and N. Mazzullo, 155–179. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
- Hodder, Ian, 2011 “Human-Thing Entanglement: Towards an Integrated Archaeological Perspective.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 17, no.1 (March): 154–177.
- Holzlehner, Tobias, 2011 “Engineering Socialism: A History of Village Relocations in Chukotka, Russia.” In Engineering Earth: The Impacts of Megaengineering Projects, edited by S.D. Brunn, 1957–73. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Science+Business Media.
- Holzlehner, Tobias, 2012 “‘Somehow, Something Broke Inside the People’: Demographic Shifts and Community Anomie in Chukotka, Russia.” Alaska Journal of Anthropology 10 (1-2): 13–28.
- Ingold, Timothy, 2000 The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling, and Skill. London: Routledge.
- Koester, David, 2003 “Life in Lost Villages: Home, Land, Memory and the Sense of Loss in Post-Jesup Kamchatka.” In Constructing Cultures Then and Now: Celebrating Franz Boas and the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, edited by L. Kendall and I. Krupnik, 269–283. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
- Kozlov, Andrew, Vladislav Nuvano, and Galina Vershubsky, 2007 “Changes in Soviet and Post-Soviet Indigenous Diets in Chukotka.” Études Inuit Studies 31 (1-2): 103–121.
- Krupnik, Igor, 1993 Arctic Adaptations: Native Whalers and Reindeer Herders of Northern Eurasia. Hanover: University Press of New England.
- Krupnik, Igor, 2000 Pust’ govoriat nashi stariki: Rasskazy aziatskikh eskimosov-iupik, sapisi 1975–1987 [Let our Elders Speak: Stories of the Siberian Yupik Eskimo, Recordings 1975–1987]. Moscow: Russian Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage.
- Krupnik, Igor, and Mikhail A. Chlenov, 2007 “The End of ‘Eskimo Land’: Yupik Relocations in Chukotka, 1958–1959.” Études Inuit Studies 31 (1–2): 59–81.
- Krupnik, Igor, and Mikhail A. Chlenov, 2013 Yupik Transitions: Change and Survival at Bering Strait, 1900–1960. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.
- Lee, Molly, and Gregory A. Reinhardt, 2003 Eskimo Architecture: Dwelling and Structure in the Early Historic Period. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.
- McIlwraith, Tad, 2012 “A Camp is Home and Other Reasons Why Indigenous Hunting Camps Can’t be Moved Out of the Way of Resource Developments.” The Northern Review 36, no. 2 (June): 97–126.
- Nielsen, Bent, 2007 “Post-Soviet Structures, Path-Dependency and Passivity in Chukotkan Coastal Villages.” Études Inuit Studies 31 (1-2): 163–182.
- Oliver-Smith, Anthony, 2005 “Communities after Catastrophe: Reconstructing the Material, Reconstituting the Social.” In Community Building in the Twenty-First Century, edited by S. E. Hyland, 45–70. Santa Fe, CA: School for Advanced Research Press.
- Schindler, Debra L., 1992 “Russia Hegemony and Indigenous Rights in Chukotka.” Études Inuit Studies 16 (1-2): 51–74.
- Schweitzer, Peter P., and Evgeniy V. Golovko, 2007 “The ‘Priests’ of East Cape: A Religious Movement on the Chukchi Peninsula During the 1920s and 1930s.” Études Inuit Studies 3 (1-2): 39–58.
- Schweitzer, Peter P. and Elizabeth Marino, 2006 Coastal Erosion Protection and Community Relocation Shishmaref, Alaska: Collocation Cultural Impact Assessment. Seattle, WA: TetraTech, Inc.
- Schweitzer, Peter P. and Olga Povoroznyuk, 2019 “A Right to Remoteness? A Missing Bridge and Articulations of Indigeneity Along an East Siberian Railroad.” Social Anthropology / Anthropologie Sociale 27, no. 2 (May): 236–252.
- Schweitzer, Peter P., Olga Povoroznyuk, and Sigrid Schiesser, 2017 “Beyond Wilderness: Towards an Anthropology of Infrastructure and the Built Environment in the Russian North.” The Polar Journal 7, no. 1 (June): 58–85.
- Scott, James C., 1998 Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Scott, James C., 2009 The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Ssorin-Chaikov, Nikolai V., 2003 The Social Life of the State in Subarctic Siberia. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Tester, Frank J., and Peter Kulchyski, 1994 Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic 1939–63. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- Tilley, Christopher, and Kate Cameron-Daum, 2017 An Anthropology of Landscape: The Extraordinary in the Ordinary. London: UCL Press.
- Usenyuk, Svetlana, Hyysalo Sampsa, and Jack Whalen, 2016 “Proximal Design: Users as Designers of Mobility in the Russian North.” Technology and Culture 57, no. 4 (October): 866–908.
- Yamin-Pasternak, Sveta, 2007 “An Ethnomycological Approach to Land Use Values in Chukotka.” Études Inuit Studies 31 (1-2): 121–142.
- Yashchenko, Oksana E., 2020 “Nakonets-to ia doma: vozvrashchenie v rodnoi Akkani [Home at Last: Return to our Native Akkani].” In Prikladnaia etnologiia Chukotki: Narodnye znaniia, muzei, kul’turnoe nasledie [Applied Anthropology in Chukotka: Indigenous Knowledge, Museums, Cultural Heritage], edited by O. P. Kolomiets and I. I. Krupnik, 74–94. Moscow: PressPass.