The Legend of Elvel: Technology, Decolonization, and the Powerful Trails of an Itelmen-language story

Western coast of the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia is home for a small population of Itelmen peoples, an aboriginal group of about 3000 traditional fishermen who today reside in various parts of the globe. Itelmen language is considered severely endangered with only 5 fluent speakers remaining and a handful of middle-aged generation who grew up hearing conversations in Itelmen. Our paper presents the power of legend to help Itelmen people recover after the years of the assimilation policies of Tsarist and Soviet Russia. Here, storytelling has been a core component of the resurgence of Itelmen language and culture. Our research presents how drawing on innovative, accessible digital technologies, such stories can be a fundamental component of healing and revival of indigenous language in the contemporary world. One story in particular has inspired our research and community practice. The Itelmen legend about the Elvel Mountain tells about the creation of important geographical locales in the region. The story has been documented numerous times, including a remarkable, lengthy version in the Itelemen language shared by an elder in 1970s and since translated into Russian and English. Through the re-telling, translation and performance of this story, Itelmen peoples assert their distinctive connections to their ancestral landscape, shaping their vision of a future profoundly connected to their senses of the places and ancestral figures in the story. This research is a result of the joint initiative of the University of Victoria, Canada and the Community House of Kovran, Russia, aimed at following the trails of the Elvel legend in the contemporary lives of Itelmen people. We draw on Google Earth-based technologies to create spectacular, immersive maps of traditional stories, to develop an educational movie about Elvel dubbed by the native speakers of Itelmen and representatives of the community. Our collaborative, community-based research project has raised important questions that connect place-based story-telling, technology, and language revitalization. How can Itelmen peoples continue using classic tellings of a legend for further development of Itelmen language? In what ways can innovative technologies be mobilized to help engage Itelmen peoples with their language and sense of place? In particular how can the widely available software like Google Earth be utilized in novel ways for language revitalization purposes? Through the re-telling of legends shared by the previous generation of master story-tellers, how community be newly engaged in honoring and respecting their traditional lands as economies and livelihoods are decolonized

Places of significance in Itelmen country: sacredness, nostalgia and identity in Kamchatka, Russia

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2009"This research was conducted among Itelmen people, a small indigenous group who live on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East. The thesis explores places of significance and sacred places of Itelmens who traditionally occupied most of the peninsula. At present the majority live on the Western coast of Kamchatka on the Okhotsk Sea shore. Providing some historical background, outcomes of colonization and western presence, and description of contemporary Itelmen worldview, this study offers an overview of Itelmen concepts of perceiving, knowing, appreciating and "animating" places. These concepts are formed primarily on the basis of a sense of loss of the villages during the relocations of 1950s-60s, a sense of admiration of nature, a sense of respect of ancestral knowledge associated with their lands, a sense of fear and respect of the spirits inhabiting the places and other aspects of landscape animation. Through the examples of indigenous peoples' initiatives this thesis also provides the groundwork for demonstrating the usefulness of the study of places of significance and sacred sites as negotiations take place between Itelmens and the government over native lands"--Leaf iiiNational Science Foundation (Project #0631419)Introduction -- Field research -- Outline of the thesis -- 1. Theoretical background -- 2. Itelmen places of significance -- 3. A place of the state in the formation of sacred places in Kamchatka. New ideas of special and sacred -- 4. Symbolic places -- Conclusions -- List of abbreviations -- List of interviewees, fieldwork conducted in summer 2008 by Tatiana S. Degai on significant places of Itelmens -- List of additional interviews used -- References

Regional geographies and public health lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arctic

Objectives: This study examines the COVID-19 pandemic’s spatiotemporal dynamics in 52 sub-regions in eight Arctic states. This study further investigates the potential impact of early vaccination coverage on subsequent COVID-19 outcomes within these regions, potentially revealing public health insights of global significance. Methods: We assessed the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic in Arctic sub-regions using three key epidemiological variables: confirmed cases, confirmed deaths, and case fatality ratio (CFR), along with vaccination rates to evaluate the effectiveness of the early vaccination campaign on the later dynamics of COVID-19 outcomes in these regions. Results: From February 2020 to February 2023, the Arctic experienced five distinct waves of COVID-19 infections and fatalities. However, most Arctic regions consistently maintained Case Fatality Ratios (CFRs) below their respective national levels throughout these waves. Further, the regression analysis indicated that the impact of initial vaccination coverage on subsequent cumulative mortality rates and Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) was inverse and statistically significant. A common trend was the delayed onset of the pandemic in the Arctic due to its remoteness. A few regions, including Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Northern Canada, Finland, and Norway, experienced isolated spikes in cases at the beginning of the pandemic with minimal or no fatalities. In contrast, Alaska, Northern Sweden, and Russia had generally high death rates, with surges in cases and fatalities. Conclusion: Analyzing COVID-19 data from 52 Arctic subregions shows significant spatial and temporal variations in the pandemic’s severity. Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Northern Canada, Finland, and Norway exemplify successful pandemic management models characterized by low cases and deaths. These outcomes can be attributed to successful vaccination campaigns, and proactive public health initiatives along the delayed onset of the pandemic, which reduced the impact of COVID-19, given structural and population vulnerabilities. Thus, the Arctic experience of COVID-19 informs preparedness for future pandemic-like public health emergencies in remote regions and marginalized communities worldwide that share similar contexts

Institutional navigation of oceans governance: Lessons from Russia and the United States Indigenous multi-level whaling governance in the Arctic

Oceans governance occurs through overlapping, multi-level institutions that often fail to recognize Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) provides pathways for recognizing Indigenous rights. However, observed power asymmetries and cross-level local to international conflicts threatened subsistence rights and generated research and advocacy fatigue for Chukchi, Iñupiat, Saint Lawrence Island Yupik, and Siberian Yupik communities in the USA and Russia. We conduct an institutional analysis of Indigenous bowhead whaling governance based upon lived experiences of Indigenous authors, primary documents from co-management organizations, national agencies, the IWC, and extant literature. We explore how Indigenous co-management organizations increased sovereignty and self-determination for communities whose culture, identities, livelihoods, and origins are intimately connected to marine mammal hunting. Our study also provides lessons for the United Nations Decade for Ocean Science on the challenges of institutional navigation and the role of embodied resurgent practice amongst Indigenous communities within Earth system governance

Incorporating Resilience When Assessing Pandemic Risk in the Arctic: A Case Study of Alaska

The discourse on vulnerability to COVID-19 or any other pandemic is about the susceptibility to the effects of disease outbreaks. Over time, vulnerability has been assessed through various indices calculated using a confluence of societal factors. However, categorising Arctic communities, without considering their socioeconomic, cultural and demographic uniqueness, into the high and low continuum of vulnerability using universal indicators will undoubtedly result in the underestimation of the communities\u27 capacity to withstand and recover from pandemic exposure. By recognising vulnerability and resilience as two separate but interrelated dimensions, this study reviews the Arctic communities\u27 ability to cope with pandemic risks. In particular, we have developed a pandemic vulnerability-resilience framework for Alaska to examine the potential community-level risks of COVID-19 or future pandemics. Based on the combined assessment of the vulnerability and resilience indices, we found that not all highly vulnerable census areas and boroughs had experienced COVID-19 epidemiological outcomes with similar severity. The more resilient a census area or borough is, the lower the cumulative death per 100 000 and case fatality ratio in that area. The insight that pandemic risks are the result of the interaction between vulnerability and resilience could help public officials and concerned parties to accurately identify the populations and communities at most risk or with the greatest need, which, in turn, helps in the efficient allocation of resources and services before, during and after a pandemic. A resilience-vulnerability-focused approach described in this paper can be applied to assess the potential effect of COVID-19 and similar future health crises in remote regions or regions with large Indigenous populations in other parts of the world

Shaping Arctic’s Tomorrow through Indigenous Knowledge Engagement and Knowledge Co-Production

This perspective presents a statement of the 10th International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences Indigenous Knowledge and knowledge co-production panel and discussion group, 20 July 2021. The statement is designed to serve as a characterization of the state-of-the-art and guidance for further advancement of Indigenous Knowledge and knowledge co-production in the Arctic. It identifies existing challenges and provides specific recommendations for researchers, Indigenous communities, and funding agencies on meaningful recognition and engagement of Indigenous Knowledge systems

"ITƏNMƏN”-- "The One Who Exists": Sociolinguistic Life of the Itelmen in Kamchatka, Russia in the Context of Language Loss and Language Revitalization

The Pacific coast of Russia on the Kamchatka peninsula is home to a small indigenous group of traditional fishermen who call themselves Itelmens. The total population of Itelmens is a little over 3,000 people. Over the last three decades Itelmens have been successful in revitalizing their culture and maintaining traditional subsistence activities, cuisine, crafts, and dance. Sadly, this cannot be stated about the Itelmen language- “a severely endangered language-- which has about 5 native speakers left. Despite the language revitalization measures that have been actively undertaken by Itelmen language specialists since the 1980s, Itelmens continue to lose their speakers with no new speakers appearing. This sociolinguistic research aims to analyze the history of language loss, contemporary state of the language, spaces that the language is taught and practiced, and the circumstances that work for or against the active language revitalization among Itelmens. The intellectual merits of this study include gaining a better understanding of the nature of the reversing language shift processes and language vitality that occur in communities with a small number of speakers. The ultimate goal of this community-oriented research was to search for language revitalization initiatives that might work in the Itelmen case under the given social, political, and economic circumstances. Therefore, this study is offering multiple language revitalization initiatives that should be implemented both in rural and urban areas for fruitful development of the Itelmen language. These initiatives include the participation of all generations in the process and the introduction of multi-media and technology

Municipal Programs and Sustainable Development in Russian Northern Cities: Case Studies of Murmansk and Magadan

Cities play an important role in promoting sustainable development. In the Arctic, most particularly in Russia, cities concentrate the majority of residents and economic activity. Sustainable development initiatives are often deployed through programs that operate at different spatial and jurisdictional scales. While national and regional policies and programs have received some attention, the understanding of urban development policies and programs at the municipal level in the Arctic is still limited. This paper presents a case study of municipal sustainable development programming in Arctic cities and examines municipal programs in two larger Russian northern cities: Murmansk and Magadan. While both are regional capitals and the most populous urban settlements in their regions, the cities have district historical, economic and geographical contexts. Through the content analysis of municipal programs active in 2018, we aim to understand, systematize and compare the visions and programmatic actions of the two municipalities on sustainable development. Ten sustainable development programming categories were identified for using a UN SDG-inspired approach modeled after the City of Whitehorse, Canada. While the programs in Magadan and Murmansk are quite different, we observed striking commonalities that characterize the national, regional and local models of urban sustainable development policy making in the Russian Arctic