A comparative analysis of the settlements of Novoye Chaplino and Gambell

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Authors: Callaway, Donald G., Pilyasov, Alexander
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1993
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Chaplino; Novoye Chaplino; Chukotka; Polar Record; Siberian Yupik; Yupik
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400023184; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400023184

ABSTRACT Geographically separated by only 64 km, the Siberian Yupik-speaking communities of Gambell and Novoye Chaplino have endured a politically mandated separation of 40 years. During this period these two small, native comm unities have experienced enormous changes, changes often engendered by the social and economic policies of their nation states. The abandonment of small, native communities in Chukotka under the Soviet policy of ‘settlements without prospects’, the forced resettlement of Chaplino to Novoye Chaplino, and the reorganization of cooperatives into state farms have all had serious detrimental consequences for the organization of subsistence activities in this community. Gambell—with very little economic infrastructure, high unemployment, increased social problems, and some federaland state-mandated management of their natural resources — has managed to maintain high levels of subsistence production. The native language is spoken by youngsters in Gambell but not in Novoye Chaplino. Other important cultural features such as sharing, bride service, and ivory carving have been maintained in Gambell but have been lost in Novoye Chaplino. Contacts between the two communities under the recent policy of glasnost' may bring a revival of these practices back to Novoye Chaplino.