{"title":"“It Was Not a Whale, but a Strange Monster”","authors":"Colton Brandau","doi":"10.3368/aa.58.2.105","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the mid-18th century, Qikertarmiut spotted “a giant whale” offshore Qikertaq [Kodiak Island]. Upon closer examination, however, they realized this creature held a Russian fur expedition. Over the next few months, Russians and Qikertarmiut fought, survived, and traded, which Elder Arsenti Aminak recounted to Henrik Holmberg in 1851. His testimony detailed important events from these first interactions but also involved knowledges concerning Qikertarmiut seasonal relations and storytelling practices. The kiak [summer] season influenced Qikertarmiut to view the arriving Russians through oceanic perspectives. In uksuaq [autumn], violence, either to remove intruders from beaches or to facilitate easier sea-mammal-fur extractions, shaped relations. During uksuq [winter], Russian ignorance of surviving on Qikertaq led to deaths and thefts from Qikertarmiut villages. By ugnerkaq [spring], Qikertarmiut engaged in trade with the Russians before the latter departed the island. Aminak’s remembrances displayed a relational Qikertarmiut social world not often discussed, which exceeded and persisted through Russian colonialism.","PeriodicalId":45997,"journal":{"name":"Arctic Anthropology","volume":"58 1","pages":"105 - 124"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Arctic Anthropology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3368/aa.58.2.105","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract In the mid-18th century, Qikertarmiut spotted “a giant whale” offshore Qikertaq [Kodiak Island]. Upon closer examination, however, they realized this creature held a Russian fur expedition. Over the next few months, Russians and Qikertarmiut fought, survived, and traded, which Elder Arsenti Aminak recounted to Henrik Holmberg in 1851. His testimony detailed important events from these first interactions but also involved knowledges concerning Qikertarmiut seasonal relations and storytelling practices. The kiak [summer] season influenced Qikertarmiut to view the arriving Russians through oceanic perspectives. In uksuaq [autumn], violence, either to remove intruders from beaches or to facilitate easier sea-mammal-fur extractions, shaped relations. During uksuq [winter], Russian ignorance of surviving on Qikertaq led to deaths and thefts from Qikertarmiut villages. By ugnerkaq [spring], Qikertarmiut engaged in trade with the Russians before the latter departed the island. Aminak’s remembrances displayed a relational Qikertarmiut social world not often discussed, which exceeded and persisted through Russian colonialism.
期刊介绍:
Arctic Anthropology, founded in 1962 by Chester S. Chard, is an international journal devoted to the study of Old and New World northern cultures and peoples. Archaeology, ethnology, physical anthropology, and related disciplines are represented, with emphasis on: studies of specific cultures of the arctic, subarctic and contiguous regions of the world; the peopling of the New World; relationships between New World and Eurasian cultures of the circumpolar zone; contemporary problems and culture change among northern peoples; and new directions in interdisciplinary northern research.