also Chuk·chee n., pl. Chukchi or -chis also Chukchee or -chees.

1. A member of a people of northeast Siberia.
2. The language of the Chukchi, noted for being pronounced differently by men and women.

[Russian, pl. of chukcha, from Chukchi chawchəw.]

The Chukchi, one of Russia's "Northern Peoples," live in the northeast extreme of Russia. Most (80%) of the approximately fifteen thousand Chukchi live within the Chukchi Autonomous District; small numbers also reside in Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Koryak Autonomous District. Historically, two general groups were recognized: inland and coastal Chukchi. Inland Chukchi herded domestic reindeer, amassing up to several thousands per (rich) family. Reindeer herding required a nomadic lifestyle: herders lived in tents and moved continuously to avoid pasture degradation. Men herded, hunted, and fished, while women gathered plant foods, sewed, cooked, and moved camp. The sociopolitical unit of the inland Chukchi was the herding camp, consisting of four to five families.

Coastal Chukchi depended on marine mammals for their subsistence, and lived in settled villages. Within villages whaling crews constituted important sociopolitical units. Coastal and inland Chukchi interacted, trading for desired products (e.g. marine mammal fat and hides, reindeer hides).

The Chukchi language is part of the Chukchi-Kamachatkan group of Paleo-Asiatic languages, and is most closely related to Koryak. Perhaps its most interesting attribute is the gender specific pronunciation: women replace the "r" sound with a "ts" sound. Animism characterized Chukchi cosmology. Both men and women served as shamans who mediated with the spirits who guided the animal world and other realms.

Nonnative people - Russian explorers and traders, followed by American traders - began to penetrate Chukchi space in the seventeenth century. The Russians claimed the territory but were unable to subdue it, due to fierce Chukchi resistance. Eventually (1778), the Tsarist government signed a peace treaty with the Chukchi. It was the Soviets who brought massive change, imposing new economic forms on the Chukchi, wresting decision making from them and attempting to settle the nomadic population. Some coastal villages were annihilated and their populations moved to larger centers. Meanwhile the Chukchi homeland underwent extensive mineral exploitation, accompanied by massive immigration. In 1930, natives constituted 96 percent of the population; by 1970 the number was reduced to 13 percent. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and withdrawal of northern subsidies, many nonnatives have left. The Chukchi have established a local organization to fight for increased rights, and are attempting to revivify their traditional activities, but they are plagued by high levels of unemployment, high mortality, declining reindeer herds, antiwhaling campaigns, and a moribund local economy.

Bibliography

Kerttula, Anna M. (2000). Antler on the Sea: The Yup'ik and Chukchi of the Russian Far East. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Krupnik, Igor. (1993). Arctic Adaptations: Native Whalers and Reindeer Herders of Northern Eurasia. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.

Schweitzer, Peter P., Patty A., and Gray. (2000). "The Chukchi, and Siberian Yupiit of the Russian Far East." In Endangered Peoples of the Arctic: Struggles to Survive and Thrive, ed. Milton M. Freeman. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

—GAIL A. FONDAHL