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Accepted Paper:
The Multiperspectival Nature of Place Names: Ewenki River Naming and Walking Relationships with Animals, Spirits, and Landscapes
Nadezhda Mamontova
(University of Northern British Columbia)
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the process of production, use, and change of riverine and other place names based on data collected in 2017 among the Okhotsk Ewenki
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines the process of production, use, and change of riverine and other place names based on data collected in 2017 among the Okhotsk Ewenki, the easternmost Indigenous fishing, hunting, and herding community in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It demonstrates how riverine names, and knowledge of hydrological systems in general, are embedded in Ewenki people's foundational understandings and perceptions of space and place and function in tandem with their mobility, navigation skills, and relationships with animals and non-human beings to render landscapes meaningful. The results reveal that Ewenki riverine names are not simply remembered and reproduced, but rather generated and transformed through empathic contact and engagement within a semiotic circle of shared knowledge and praxis among humans and other beings encountered in ambulatory travel. This practice is related to Ewenki understanding of ownership over territory, which is perceived as being equally shared with other beings, and is reflected in Ewenki place names.