Waldemar Jochelson in the Sibiryakov Expedition (Drawn on the 1895 Field Diaries)

Abstract

The article is drawn on Waldemar Jochelson’s 1895 field diaries which were kept during his fieldwork in the course of the Sibiryakov (Yakut) expedition. These field records are stored at the archive of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences. I discuss the history of Jochelson’s field, as well as the formation of topics and methods of his fieldwork. His long-term field research in Siberia was a forced one, as Jochelson found himself in Siberian exile. He developed methods of ethnographic fieldwork on the basis of his personal life experience and self-education, working on scholarly programs. An important role in the success of Jochelson’s fieldwork was played by his acceptance among the Upper Kolyma Yukaghirs and his subsequent long-term residence among them and language learning. Jochelson’s field experience was shaped during the Sibiryakov expedition. As a result, he entered the later Jesup expedition as a seasoned well-trained field researcher. The article introduces a range of novel materials on scholarly reflexivity of the famous Russian ethnographer.