Polevye issledovaniia V.G. Kuznetsovoi v amguemskoi tundre

Abstract

The article examines the scholarly work and life of the Russian ethnographer Varvara Kuznetsova, focusing on her field notes and diaries recorded during her prolonged fieldwork among the Chukchee of the Amguema tundra. The author casts light on the difficulties that the ethnographer experienced while she had, as a participant observer, to live the nomadic lifestyle together with the Chukchee people. The author further discusses the academic career of Kuznetsova after she returned from the field, and argues that the degree of immersion in the culture observed is a factor crucially important for the ethnographer’s personality.