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

Abstract

"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 iii