RU | EN
Submenu

Kolomiets O. “Good Place”: Factors behind the Preservation of Ethno-Cultural Identities of the Lorino Village Inhabitants

O. Kolomiets
N. A. Shilo North-East Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute, Far East Branch, RAS;
Omsk Scientific Center, Siberian Branch, RAS
Anadyr, Russian Federation
ORCID 0000-0003-0027-7539
E-mail: okkolo@mail.ru 

 

 Download  |  Go to Issue #3. 2024

 

ABSTRACT. The article examines the natural, economic, social, cultural, and linguistic factors sustaining the collective identities of the marine mammal hunters living in Lorino, the largest village in the Eastern Chukotka. Lorino is a coastal village in the Chukotka municipal district north of Mechigmen Bay. Chukchi and Eskimos (Inuit) are the main inhabitants of the village. The life of the village greatly depends on the development of traditional marine mammal hunting and related activities: processing of fishery products, sled dog breeding, animal husbandry, bone-carving, and arts and crafts. The village’s town-forming enterprise is the territorial community of Indigenous small-numbered people of Chukotka called Lorino. The whalers are the core of the intra-rural economy, supplying marine mammal products to the entire populace. Reindeer husbandry in the Lorino tundra lost its former importance and is represented by only two brigades in the municipal unitary enterprise of agricultural producers Zapoliarie. The development of trade culture and the continuities between generations of whalers provide rural society with relative economic, demographic, and cultural stability. In the 1980s, the Lorino whalers revived the art of crafting the Chukchi-Eskimo kayaks. Two ethnic festivals of whalers, Beringia and Ankalit, take place in the village of Lorino. The level of native language proficiency varies among age and professional groups of Lorino residents. Most informants speak about the extreme necessity to preserve their native language.

 

KEYWORDS: Eastern Chukotka, the Lorino village, Chukchi, Eskimos (Inuit), identity, hunting, culture

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8600-2024-3(25)-200-229
UDC 39 (571.651)

 

REFERENCES

  • Ank’k’al’yt — lyudi morya. Istoriya morskogo zveroboynogo promysla Chukotki [Ank’k’al’yt — people of the sea. History of the marine mammal hunting industry of Chukotka]. Anadyr’: Duma Chukotskogo Avtonomnogo okruga Publ., 2020, 631 p. (In Russian).
  • Bukina L. A., Kolevatova A. I. [Traditional nutrition of the local population in Chukotka (Lorino settlement)]. Sovremennye problemy prirodopol’zovaniya, okhotovedeniya i zverovodstva: materialy Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii, posvyashchennoy 85-letiyu VNIIOZ, Kirov, 22–25 maya 2007 goda [Modern problems of nature management, hunting and animal husbandry: materials of the International scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 85th anniversary of VNIIOZ, Kirov, May 22–25, 2007]. Kirov: GNU VNIIOZ Publ., 2007, pp. 59–61. (In Russian).
  • Dinamika etnicheskogo sostava naseleniya i ukreplenie obshcherossiyskoy identichnosti v regionakh Aziatskoy Rossii [Dynamics of the ethnic composition of the population and strength­ening of the all-Russian identity in the regions of Asian Russia]. Omsk: Izdatel’skiy tsentr KAN Publ., 2022, 300 p. (In Russian).
  • Etnograficheskiye materialy Severo-Vostochnoy geograficheskoy ekspeditsii: 1785–1795 gody [Ethnographic materials of the North-Eastern geographical expedition: 1785–1795]. Magadan: Knizhnoye izdatel’stvo Publ., 1978, 176 p. (In Russian).
  • Etnopoliticheskaya situatsiya v Rossiyskoy Federatsii v 2022 godu. Ezhegodnyy doklad Seti etnopoliticheskogo monitoringa i rannego preduprezhdeniya konfliktov [Ethnopolitical situation in the Russian Federation in 2022. Annual report of the Network for Ethnopolitical Monitoring and Early Warning of Conflicts]. Perm’: Mamatov Publ., 2023, 464 p. (In Russian).
  • Khakhovskaya L. N. [Ethnocultural shifts in traditional nature management of the Far North- East: from fur trade to caged animal husbandry]. Gumanitarnye issledovaniya v Vostochnoy Sibiri i na Dal’nem Vostoke [Humanities Research in the Russian Far East], 2024, no. 1, pp. 57–67. (In Russian).
  • Kolomiets O. P. [Contemporary ethno-linguistic situation in Chukotka]. Vestnik Omskogo universiteta. Seriya “Istoricheskiye nauki” [Herald of Omsk University. Series “Historical studies”], 2021, no. 4, pp. 119–132. (In Russian).
  • Kolomiets O. P. [Results of the study of public opinion on interethnic relations in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in 2023]. Istoriya, gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki: vzaimovliyanie i vzaimodeystvie (problemy teorii i praktiki): Sbornik statey po itogam Vserossiyskoy nauchnoy konferentsii, Magadan, 2 fevralya 2024 goda [History, humanitarian and social sciences: mutual influence and interaction (problems of theory and prac­tice): Collection of articles based on the results of the All-Russian scientific conference, Magadan, February 02, 2024]. Krasnoyarsk: Nauchno-innovatsionnyi tsentr Publ., 2024, pp. 44–48. (In Russian).
  • Kolomiets O. P. [To history of development of sea hunting of Chukotka]. Vestnik Omskogo universiteta. Seriya “Istoricheskiye nauki” [Herald of Omsk University. Series “Historical studies”], 2019, no. 3, pp. 223–231. (In Russian).
  • Kolomiets O. P., Nuvano V. N. [Reindeer herding of Chukotka ethnicities in the and 20th — first quarter of 21st century]. Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii [Bulletin of Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography], 2024, no. 1 (64), pp. 169–178. (In Russian).
  • Lebedev V. V. [Some issues of the current state of the economy, culture and life of the indigenous population of the Lorinsky village council of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in 1983]. Etnologicheskaya ekspertiza: Narody Severa Rossii. 1981–1984 gody [Ethnological expertise: Peoples of the North of Russia. 1981–1984]. Moscow: IEA RAN Publ., 2006, pp. 243–261. (In Russian).
  • [Lorino]. Chykotka v proshlom i nastoyashchem [Chukotka in the past and present]. Moscow: Nauchno-informatsionnyy izdatel’skiy tsentr Publ., 2009, pp. 482–483. (In Russian).
  • Nashi l’dy, snega i vetry. Narodnye i nauchnye znaniya o ledovykh landshaftakh i klimate Vostochnoy Chukotki [Our ice, snow, and winds. Folk and scientific knowledge about the ice landscapes and climate of Eastern Chukotka]. Moscow: Institut Naslediya Publ., 2013, 360 p. (In Russian).
  • Oleni zhdali menya. Istoriya chukotskogo olenevodstva [The reindeer were waiting for me. History of chukchi reindeer herding]. Anadyr’: Duma Chukotskogo Avtonomnogo okruga Publ., 2019, 503 p. (In Russian).
  • Osnovy morskogo zveroboynogo promysla. Nauchno-metodicheskoe posobie [Fundamentals of sea mammal hunting. Scientific and methodological manual]. Moscow: Institut Naslediya Publ., 2007, 480 p. (In Russian).
  • Pribyl’ ne radi pribyli? Ekonomicheskie praktiki korennykh narodov Severa Rossii v usloviyakh rynka [Profit not for the sake of profit? Economic practices of the indigenous peoples of the Russian North in a market economy]. Moscow; St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istorya Publ., 2021, 404 p. (In Russian).
  • Sergeev D. A. [On the current situation of the Eskimos population of the Chukotka and Providensky districts of the Chukotka National Okrug 1960]. Etnologicheskaya ekspertiza: narody Severa Rossii. 1981–1984 gody [Ethnological expertise: Peoples of the North of Russia. 1981–1984]. Moscow: IEA RAS Publ., 2005, pp. 181–198. (In Russian).
  • Smolyak A. V. [Materials for the characterization of the socialist culture and life of the indigenous population of the Chukotka region]. Sibirskiy etnograficheskiy sbornik [Siberian Ethnographic Collection]. Moscow; Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR Publ., 1957, vol. 2, pp. 3–37. (Proceedings of the N. N. Miklouho-Maclay Institute of Ethnography. New Series; vol. 35). (In Russian).
  • Yashchenko O. E. [“Home at last”: Returning to our native Akkani]. Prikladnaya etnologiya Chukotki: narodnye znaniya, muzei, kul’turnoe nasledie (K 125-letiyu poezdki N. L. Gondatti na Chukotskiy poluostrov v 1895 godu) [Applied ethnology in Chukotka: indigenous knowledge, museums, cultural heritage (Celebrating 125th anniversary of N. L. Gondatti’s Trip to the Chukchi Peninsula in 1895)]. Moscow: PressPass Publ., 2020, pp. 74–96. (In Russian).
  • Yashchenko O. E. [“Look and follow me”: Young cohort of Chukchi and Yupik maritime hunters in the communities of Lorino and Sireniki in the 2010s]. Litsom k moryu. Pamyati Lyudmily Bogoslovskoy [Those who face the sea. In memory of Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya]. Moscow: Avgust Borg Publ., 2016, pp. 191–213. (In Russian).
  • Zdes’ nachinaetsya Rossiya. Chukotskiy munitsipal’nyy rayon [Russia begins here. Chukotka municipal district]. Lavrentiya: Administratsiya Chukotskogo munitsipal’nogo rayona Publ., 2018, 527 p. (In Russian).