How the Devils Went Deaf: Ethnomycology, Cuisine, and Perception of Landscape in the Russian North
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How The Devils Went Deaf: Ethnomycology, Cuisine, And Perception Of Landscape In The Russian North Item Type Thesis Authors Yamin-Pasternak, Sveta Download date 01/10/2021 16:16:48 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/8922 HOW THE DEVILS WENT DEAF: ETHNOMYCOLOGY, CUISINE, AND PERCEPTION OF LANDSCAPE IN THE RUSSIAN NORTH A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Sveta Yamin-Pasternak, B.A., M.A. Fairbanks, Alaska May 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3266061 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3266061 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. HOW THE DEVILS WENT DEAF: ETHNOMYCOLOGY, CUISINE, AND PERCEPTION OF LANDSCAPE IN THE RUSSIAN NORTH By Sveta Yamin-Pasternak RECOMMENDED: H - Chair, Department djf Anthropology APPROVED: Dean, College of Liberal Arts Dean of the Graduate School J . 2 c rE>~?- Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To Igor Pasternak Thank you for your love, and for the mushrooms Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iv Abstract Arctic tundra is rich mushroom country and a number of high latitude fungi species can potentially be used as food. Different regions often play host to many of the same or similar mushroom varieties. Yet, people’s attitudes toward the same mushrooms—and mushrooms in general—vary widely both in temporal and geographical senses. The given work presents a study in ethnomycology—a field of inquiry concerned with human beliefs and practices associated with mushrooms, carried out in the Bering Strait area of Chukotka, Russia. Once avoided by the Native people living on the Russian and American sides of the Bering Strait, wild mushrooms are now considered to be deliciously edible among the Yupiit and Chukchi of Chukotka. In addition to its dietary contribution, mushroom gathering is also valued as a social, spiritual, and recreational activity which cultivates particular relationships between the people and the land. Prior to the influences of the mushroom-loving Russian cuisine, Yupik people in Chukotka regarded mushrooms as “devil ears,” while the Chukchi largely viewed them as reindeer food unfit for human consumption. As an ethnographic study of a single commodity, this thesis examines past and present meanings of mushrooms in Chukotka, exploring local beliefs, practices, and knowledge associated with their use. It shows that the transformations in Yupik and Chukchi ideas about mushrooms are deeply connected with multiple aspects of social change taking place in Chukotka during and after the Soviet period. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V Table of Contents Page Signature Page............................................................................................................. i Title Page............................................................................................................................ ii Dedication......................................................................................................................... iii Abstract.............................................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents............................................................................................................. v List of Figures................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements........................................................................................................ x Chapter 1 Mushrooms without Borders: My Pathway to Beringian Ethnomycology... 1 Preliminary Insights..................................................................................................... 9 Research Questions.................................................................................................... 18 Fieldwork and Methods......................................................................................... 21 Ethnographic Overview of the Chukchi Peninsula........................................... 24 Taste Them, Don’t Waste Them: a Note on Ethics............................................. 35 Chapter 2 A Taste of Mushrooms: Savoring Cultural Sentiments........................................ 41 Ethnomycology as an Anthropological Inquiry................................................. 44 Defining Mycophobia and Mycophilia................................................................. 58 Views of the Chukotka Yupiit and Chukchi Prior To Russian Influence... 66 Chapter 3 Mushroom Harvest in Contemporary Chukotka.................................................... 91 Picking......................................................................................................................... 95 A Mushrooming Vacation................................................................................... 102 Processing and Preserving...................................................................................... 104 Cleansing and Sorting......................................................................................... 107 Pickling and Marinating..................................................................................... I l l Drying and Other Methods of Preserving Mushrooms............................. 117 Collaboration and Division of Labor..................................................................... 119 Social Networks, Transfer, and Exchange.......................................................... 127 Banochka Gribov (A Jar of Mushrooms).......................................................... 129 Surviving the Surplus.......................................................................................... 131 The Day that Feeds a Year: On the Importance of Always Being Ready.. 134 Chapter 4 Contexts and Meanings of Mushroom Consumption.......................................... 139 Eating and Chasing.................................................................................................... 143 Mealtimes and Structure of Everyday Eating..................................................... 146 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. v i Prazdnichnyi Stol (A Holiday Table).................................................................... 148 Russian and Native Cuisines in Chukotka......................................................... 152 Mushroom Dishes in Everyday and Festive Eating........................................ 167 Good to Think, Good to Harvest, Good to Eat................................................. 176 Chapter 5 Understanding the Social Context of Transformation in the Chukotka Native Views on Mushrooms and Mycophagy.................................................... 179 Comparing Mushrooms to Other Food Novelties.......................................... 179 An Overnight Change?........................................................................................... 183 Age Cohort Framework.................................................................................... 186 The Cohorts of Late 1800s through 1920s.................................................. 187 The Cohort of the 1930s.................................................................................... 189 From the Writings of Georgii Menovshchikov.................................... 190 Local Perspectives...................................................................................... 192 The Cohort of the Period 1940-1955.............................................................. 194 The Cohort of the 1960s and 1970s............................................................... 197 The Cohort of the 1980s.................................................................................... 202 Chapter 6 Ethnomycology as Ethnohistory: Mushrooms and Cross-Cultural Entanglements.............................................................................................................. 204 Mushrooms in the Border Zone............................................................................ 204 A Primary Subject in the Secondary School..................................................... 207 Tundra Encounters on the “Third Kingdom” Kind......................................... 211 Chukotka in the 1970s: Time of Mushrooming Mushrooming...................