Antler on the Sea: The Yup'ik and Chukchi of the Russian Far East (The Anthropology of Contemporary Issues) [Hardcover]

Anna M. Kerttula (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (October 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801436818
• ISBN-13: 978-0801436819
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,323,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A glimpse of life in a Russian Arctic village, February 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Antler on the Sea: The Yup'ik and Chukchi of the Russian Far East (The Anthropology of Contemporary Issues) (Hardcover)

Anna Kerttula was the first American anthropologist to conduct long-term fieldwork in Chukotka, which is located in eastern Russia just across the Bering Strait from Alaska. She comes from a background that gives her a unique and very valuable perspective on Chukotka: she was raised in a rural Alaskan family, and visited many Alaskan Inuit and Yup'ik villages as a child. All that time, she was acutely aware of the presence of Chukotka and its Native villages just out of reach beyond what was dubbed the "ice curtain" between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. She dreamed of going there, and was finally able to do so as a graduate student in anthropology. In the Soviet period, because Chukotka was so close to the United States, it was a carefully-guarded closed region -- even Russians had to have special permission to travel there. Kerttula began her fieldwork in the village of Sireniki on Chukotka's coast in 1989, two years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, so she had the rare opportunity to experience life there before the drastic changes that came in the 1990s. She describes for us many different aspects of the lives of the Yup'iks, Chukchis, and Russian "Newcomers" who live in this village -- their occupations of reindeer herding and sea mammal hunting for the Soviet collective farm in the village; their ideas about social relationships, marriage and family, etc.; the symbolic importance of the tundra and the sea. It is a fascinating glimpse of daily life on the eve of the Soviet Union's demise. This is an excellent introduction for anyone interested in the Russian Arctic (a.k.a. Siberia)-- it is well-written, accessible, and full of fascintating profiles of the inhabitants of this small village. Lots of good black and white photos, too.

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars TEXTBOOK, June 18, 2006

By 

ASPIN "ASPIN" (CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antler on the Sea: The Yupik and Chukchi of the Russian Far East (Paperback)

THIS BOOK WAS RECOMMENDED BY AMAZON. I THINK THIS WAS BECAUSE I BOUGHT SEVERAL BOOKS ON ALASKAN WILDERNESS AND NATIVES. I THOUGHT THIS BOOK WOULD BE AN INTERESTING NATIVE CONTINUUM.

THE DESCRIPTION GIVEN ON THE AMAZON WEBSITE WAS ACCURATE BUT INCOMPLETE.

THE BOOK IS A STIFFLY WRITTEN TEXTBOOK STUDY WITH MANY STUDY REFERENCES. THE PICTURES ARE POOR. THE PRINT IS SMALL. THE WRITING NEEDS EDITING.

THERE IS A LOT OF REFERENCE TO POLITICS AND COMMUNISM.


IF I HAD THIS REVIEW OR A BETTER GLANCE THROUGH THE BOOK FIRST, I WOULDN'T HAVE BOUGHT IT.