INTEGRATING ETHNOGRAPHY AND EDUCATION IN UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL CONTINUITY IN ARCTIC COMMUNITIES

EPSCoR’s Travel Award Report for travel to Kaktovik, AK

Oxana Yashchenko, May 2011

Kimberly Burns. Kaktovik, March 2011. Picture by Tracy Burns

Research sites: Sireniki/Lorino in Chukotka, Russia and Kaktovik in Alaska in United States

Alaska North Slope, US. googlemaps.com,Accessed 05/23/2011

Chukchi Peninsula, Russia. googlemaps.comAccessed 05/23/2011

YO U T H AC T I V I T I E S I N C H U KO T K A , R U SS I A N FA R E A S T

Provideniya

Lavrentiya

Chukotka is situated in the northeast of Russia, it is the part of Russia that is closest to Alaska. It is one of the most beautiful landscapes and the harshest environment I have ever seen. Life in Chukotka is different from the rest of Russia, but many people prefer it and stay home even during their vacations. We like to take time to help one another, to be welcoming and hospitable to our guests, and to come together and talk over tea. Here people are not in the hurry, they like to come together and talk having tea. Chukotka is my favorite place in Russia: I love its people, its remoteness, its beautiful bays and tundra, endless summer sun and dark winter snowstorms. I am glad to share my experience with you with this poster.

(Oxana Yashchenko, M.A. student, oyashchenko@alaska.edu )

Oxana Yashchenko , University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department of Anthropology.

Novoe Chaplino

School life. Children attend school for 11 years, from ages 7 to 17. In some communities schools do not teach higher grade levels and students have to leave their homes and attend boarding schools in other villages. Young people also do many activities outside of class.

Recreation in Provideniya, Novoe Chaplino, Lavrentiya.Young people prefer to be outside all the time, even in winter. They play "warrior games," compete in skin-boat race, perform dances, do various sports, go fishing, ride bicycles or just walk. They really enjoy their time.

Life in the communities. Every village or town has its own unique character. Even the air is different, depending if one lives on the sea coast or river shore. But regardless of season, Chukotkan people work and do their local subsistence activities, go to school, and visit relatives and friends.

This poster and Yashchenko Oxana’s visit to Kaktovik in March 2011 was made possible through a travel award from the Alaska EPSCoR

Main rules and places for people in Kaktovik.

Acknowledgment Sveta Yamin-Pasternak & Igor Pasternak; Alaska EPSCoR ; Nora Jane, Kimberly, Tracy and Don Burns - my host family in Kaktovik; James LeClair – Harold Kavelook School principal; Flora Rexford – Inupiaq language teacher; All of my friends who helped me and supported my first ethnographic trip

Kimberly and Tracy Burns

Nora Jane Burns cooking caribou for good-bye dinner