Mapping for Cultural Resurgence: Reclaiming Geocultural Knowledge of Kamchatka’s Indigenous Peoples from Early Scientific Expeditions

Keywords: Kamchatka, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous cultural resurgence, counter-mapping
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

The Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East was one of the last territories to become part of Russia during its colonization of Siberia. Here Russian settlers came into contact with its Indigenous peoples - Koryaks, nomadic reindeer herders, and Itelmens, settled fishermen. And just like other Indigenous peoples of Russia and the rest of the world, they faced the terrible consequences of colonization. They were forcibly baptized, Russified and expelled from their ancestral territories. Because of that, nowadays, Indigenous knowledge in Kamchatka is largely forgotten, especially among the Itelmens. This study will attempt to help the Indigenous peoples of Kamchatka repatriate this knowledge by focusing on geographic knowledge, mainly those of the Itelmens. In cooperation with them, the original geographic knowledge of the Indigenous peoples will be mapped based on the records of the early Russian scientific expeditions, with special attention paid to Stepan Krasheninnikov. The mapped knowledge can then potentially be used by the Indigenous peoples of Kamchatka in their ongoing cultural resurgence.