Evolution of the subsistence pattern of indigenous population of the coast of Southern Chukotka: energy and resources aspects

Abstract

The aim of the research was to elucidate the changes in the subsistence patterns in Meinypilgyno village community located in the South of Chukotka on the Bering Sea coast near a spawning area of the large stock of red salmon. The research was based on modern interviews and data of the Polar Census 1926/27. The result was compared with case study of Chukchi pastoralists and Yupik communities made by Igor Krupnik (1983) in northern Chukotka. The population of Meinypilgyno was formed 90 years ago from two indigenous communities with different subsistence patterns and ecologic niches: Chukchi reindeer herders and Kereck fishermen and sea-mammal hunters. The Soviet and post-soviet economic and social reforms combined with Russian immigration changed indigenous life step by step. First, the Kereks blended in with the Chukchi community, and then the Chukchies lost their reindeer husbandry and began to merge with the Russians. Meinypilgyno became biethnic Chukchi-Russian community focused on red salmon fishing. Presently, both ethnic groups use the same ecologic niche. The analyses of the evolution of the subsistence patterns in Meinypilgyno confirms the thesis that two communities with similar subsistence activities using one ecological niche are going either to clash, or to merge together.