2008 Alaska Park Science Symposium
October 14, 2008
Marine Mammal Hunting Culture of Chukotka: Traditions and Modern Times
Lyudmila S. Bogoslovskaya1
1Russian Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Moscow, Russia
The Russian Arctic is a unique complex of ecosystems where a relatively large percent of biotic communities did not significantly change due to the human impact. For thousands of years more than ten indigenous nationalities formed here their unique cultures, while preserving biological diversity and productivity of arctic biocenoses.
The main peculiarities of traditional lifestyles in the Arctic are dynamic existence at the edge of arctic ecosystems, where each system has limited biodiversity but local areas with increased biodiversity or bioproductivity form as a result of their confluence. From ancient times people settled in such areas. The traditional system of settling of Chukotka coastal peoples is an excellent example of this.
Like the other indigenous peoples of the world, the Eskimo and coastal Chukchi are the descendants of the ancient tribes of hunters and gatherers who viewed nature not as an environment with the necessary resources but as a living and full-fledged member of their tribe. Japanese ethnologist Kh. Vatanabe correctly named such phenomenon “the system of social solidarity with nature.”
Even now marine hunting is considered not one of the branches of economic activity, but the basis of Chukotka indigenous peoples’ life. For the coastal peoples of Chukotka the traditional means of nature use were and are the only form and, at the same time, the condition of the existence of their cultures. The cultures in turn provide for the steady reproduction of ethnic originality, the work of the mechanisms of cultural continuity, and stability of the ethno-linguistic situation.
The environmental conditions force the bearers of the maritime culture to exhibit caring towards nature as a part of their cultural traditions. This means that it is a tradition that preserves the nature and not a separate human being or generation. Rather, the life and spiritual experience of many generations of their ancestors is imprinted in this tradition.
All changes that the communities of marine mammal hunters introduce into their own social structure and arctic ecosystems occurred at the speed of the main biological processes and therefore the arctic ecosystems and human communities “calmly” accept them.
The modern methods of arctic exploration and development happen in an abnormally short periods of time that do not coincide with the adaptive capacity of biota and northern indigenous communities, and therefore have a truly destructive impact not only on the natural habitat, but on the mentality, culture, and social organization traditions of these groups.
The user attitude (use of resources and recreation) based on the interests of a specific group of humans or of an individual is prevalent in so called “western” civilization. Under the influence of this domineering attitude the traditional principles of interaction between nature in the Arctic and the Chukchi and Eskimo underwent and continue to undergo a process of degradation and significant distortion.
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