The project studied and compared traditional knowledge and uses of local plant species (for food, medicine and other purposes) in three societies of the Bering Strait region, the Naukan, Chukchi and Central Alaskan Yup'ik. It examined the relative influences of sharing similar languages and a deep historical root (Naukan and Central Alaskan Yup'ik) vs. sharing the more recent influence of the dominant Russian culture (Naukan and Chukchi). Our team of U.S. and Russian scholars, led by Dr. Kevin Jernigan of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, worked in ten native villages of the Beringian region from 2014-2022 and interviewed 178 people about ethnobotanical traditions.

Intellectual Merit:

    Project results have clarified patterns of similarity and differences in plant knowledge and uses in the Bering Strait region.  Although all three study cultures share many of the same ideas about the edibility of local plants species, the two Russian cultures (Naukan and Chukchi) are much more similar to each other than either are to Central Alaskan Yup'ik in terms of their medical ethnobotany.  The greater similarity between Naukan and Chukchi cultures can be explained both by intercultural borrowing and by the fact that both groups have adopted many Russian medicinal plant uses.  We have also noted many similarities and some key differences in ethnobotanical traditions between the inland reindeer herding and coastal sea mammal hunting Chukchi.  Although both groups use many of the same species for food and medicine, the latter group gathers a greater variety of species and shows some influence in naming and uses from contact with neighboring Naukan people. We have found many similar ideas in all three cultures regarding the effects that plants have on the body, including how they should be prepared to be nutritious and beneficial.  Preparation techniques common to all three cultures include lacto-fermentation, storage in sea mammal oil and drying. 

      We predicted a decline in knowledge over all three cultures from older generations to younger ones due to forces of acculturation including boarding schools, resettlement and, in Alaska, missionary influence.  As expected, we found a definite decrease in knowledge of plant names, as well as the repertoire of plants used from older generations to younger ones. Plants no longer gathered include some that do not grow near villages where people currently live.  On the Russian side, those include the collection of plants harvested by tundra voles.  However, collection of greens, berries, and algae remains popular, even among the younger generations. The variety of methods for preparing plants is increasing, due to contact with outsiders and access to new technologies.

Broader Impacts:

      Research products include 385 high quality digital images, over 100 audio recordings of interviews and 397 film clips of plant gathering and use, along with ten edited short films on those themes in Alaska and Chukotka. These products have been used to create multimedia presentations that are available on the project website, and convey information about the naming, gathering and use of culturally significant local plants. Multimedia materials have also been shared with participating native villages.

      Six scholarly articles have been published in respected anthropological and ethnobotanical journals, including: Etudes Inuit Studies, Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine and Ethnobiology Letters. The research has also contributed significant material to the publication of two books, Ethnobotany of the Central Alaskan Yup’ik (2015) and Yungcautnguuq Nunam Qainga Tamarmi/The Entire Surface of the Land is Medicine: Edible and Medicinal Plants of Southwest Alaska (2021).

      In addition to academic conference presentations, we have given eight public lectures at village community centers, in Alaska and Chukotka and created eight powerpoint lectures for classes, ranging from elementary school to college level. The team uploaded a document on the NSF Arctic Data Center website summarizing and comparing plant uses in each study culture. We obtained permission from the villages Kotlik, Lavrentiya and Lorino to share research materials collected there on Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the arctic (ELOKA) and the details of the hosting are currently being arranged. The team also collected 236 total ethnobotanical voucher specimens of culturally significant plants. Of these, 183 were deposited at the herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia and 53 at the herbarium of the Kuskokwim campus of the University of Alaska.

Last Modified: 10/23/2022
Modified by: Kevin A Jernigan