http://greenretort.kinja.com/plants-at-the-end-of-the-earth-naukan-ethnobotany-1685557034
Plants at the End of the Earth: Naukan Ethnobotany
The
old village of Naukan sits at a scenic position on Cape Dezhnev, at the
very Eastern end of Eurasia. The Soviet government closed it in 1958,
at a time when they were closing many other nearby settlements that they
claimed were not viable. Some people say that the proximity of Naukan
to the United States was also a factor in its closure.
Elders who
were born in Naukan now live in the neighboring villages of Uelen,
Lavrentiya and Lorino. They are the last people who still speak the
Naukan language, which is closely related to the Central Yup'ik language
of the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta region of Alaska, where I live and work.
As an ethnobotanist, I was interested to learn whether Naukan people
have a similar relationship to plants as people in my region.
Specifically, I wanted to see:
- If people in both places use the same plant species as food and medicine
- How people in both places view sickness and the process of healing
- How acculturation due to Russian and U.S. influence have affected knowledge in both places
Village of Uelen, near Naukan, Chukotka, Russia
So, from July to September, 2014, I led a team of U.S. and Russian scientists to investigate these questions. We interviewed 24
Naukan people and a nearly equal number of Chukchi living in the same
villages. Although the Chukchi have their own language and culture,
there has been a blending of certain traditions and identities in these
villages where they have lived for years side by side. For example,
many Chukchi also participate with traditional Eskimo dance groups.
On the other hand, it turns out that Naukan ethnobotany has diverged in some important ways from Central Yup'ik ethnobotany.
