Sea Ice as Aboriginal Cultural Scape (in Russian)

Abstract

The paper discusses a new category of cultural "scapes" – cultural icescapes built on frozen ice that is seasonally used by northern communities, primarily by Arctic indigenous people. The cultural "meaning" of ice is created by human presence and active use of sea ice for subsistence and transportation by adding layers of place names, indigenous terminologies, oral history, safety and navigation rules, ideas about dangerous places, and supernatural beings associated with the ice. This culturally-supported content of icescape disappears and is being recreated every year due to ice melt and new formation. The paper addresses the issues of documentation and protection of cultural icescapes created by polar indigenous peoples.