The Koryak

Since the 18th century, researchers and scientists have traveled the peninsula of Kamchatka in the Russian Far East. Many of them were of German origin and had been commissioned by the Russian government to perform specific tasks. Their exhaustive descriptions and detailed reports are still considered some of the most valuable documents on the ethnography of the indigenous peoples of that part of the world. These works inform us about living conditions and particular ways of natural resource use at various times, and provide us with valuable background information for current assessment. As the first profound anthropological descriptions of that region, the publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, undertaken in the first years of the 20th century, marked the beginning of a new era of research in Russia. They represented a shift of the already existing transnational research networks toward North America. Jochelson’s work The Koryak was an important milestone for Russian and North American anthropology that provides to this day a unique contribution to thoroughly understanding the cultures of the North Pacific rim.

The book is an essential resource for those interested in investigating the lives, histories, and futures of indigenous peoples around the world. Perfect for readers looking to learn more about cultural groups around the world, this four-volume work examines approximately 400 indigenous groups globally. The encyclopedia investigates the history, social structure, and culture of peoples from all corners of the world, including their role in the world, their politics, and their customs and traditions. Alphabetically arranged entries focus on groups living in all world regions, some of which are well-known with large populations, and others that are lesser-known with only a handful of surviving members. Each entry includes sections on the group's geography and environment; history and politics; society, culture, and tradition; access to health care and education; and threats to survival. Each entry concludes with See Also cross-references and a list of Further Reading resources to guide readers in their research. Also included in the encyclopedia are Native Voices inset boxes, allowing readers a glimpse into the daily lives of members of these indigenous groups, as well as an appendix featuring the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

What does it mean to be a traditional Koryak in the modern world? How do indigenous Siberians express a culture that entails distinctive customs and traditions? For decades these people, who live on the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Siberia, have been in the middle of contradictory Soviet/Russian colonial policies that celebrate cultural and ethnic difference across Russia yet seek to erase those differences. Government institutions both impose state ideologies of culture and civilization and are sites of community revitalization for indigenous Siberians. ø In Living with Koryak Traditions, Alexander D. King reveals that, rather than having a single model of Koryak culture, Koryaks themselves are engaged in deep debates and conversations about what ?culture? and ?tradition? mean and how they are represented for native peoples, both locally and globally. To most Koryaks, tradition does not function simply as an identity marker but also helps to maintain moral communities and support vulnerable youth in dire times. Debunking an immutable view of tradition and culture, King presents a dynamic one that validates contemporary indigenous peoples? lived experience.

Circumpolar Problems: Habitat, Economy, and Social Relations in the Arctic contains papers presented at the Symposium on Circumpolar Problems, organized by the Nordic Council for Anthropological Research and held on September 14-21, 1969 in Lulea, Sweden and Tromso, Norway. Organized into 22 chapters, this book begins with some comparisons between Greenlanders and Lapps regarding their relationship to the inclusive society. Subsequent chapters discuss the urbanization, industrialization, and changes in the family in Greenland during the reform period since 1950; ""conservation"" and ""destruction"" of traditional culture; and socio-economical transformation and modern ethnical development of the inhabitants of the Siberian polar zones of the north-eastern regions. Other chapters explain the migrations from nomad to urban districts in Northern Sweden; division of the Lapps into tradition areas; variations of settlement pattern and hunting conditions in three districts of Greenland; cultural concept in the Arctic Stone Age; and transition from hunting to nomadic economy in Finnmark.

As the first profound anthropological descriptions of that region, the publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, undertaken in the first years of the 20th century, marked the beginning of a new era of research in Russia. Jochelson's work the Yukaghir and the Yukaghirized Tungus, for which he also draws on results of his earlier fieldwork in that area, was an important milestone for Russian and North American anthropology that provides to this day a unique contribution to thoroughly understanding the cultures of northeastern Siberia.

“An absolutely unique work in linguistics publishing – full of beautiful maps and authoritative accounts of well-known and little-known language encounters. Essential reading (and map-viewing) for students of language contact with a global perspective.” Prof. Dr. Martin Haspelmath, Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie The two text volumes cover a large geographical area, including Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, South -East Asia (Insular and Continental), Oceania, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Mongolia, Central Asia, the Caucasus Area, Siberia, Arctic Areas, Canada, Northwest Coast and Alaska, United States Area, Mexico, Central America, and South America. The Atlas is a detailed, far-reaching handbook of fundamental importance, dealing with a large number of diverse fields of knowledge, with the reported facts based on sound scholarly research and scientific findings, but presented in a form intelligible to non-specialists and educated lay persons in general.