what is Kamchadal literature?
The Kamchadals is a collective name given to the Koryak and the Chukchis, the two main peoples that inhabit Kamchatka and the extreme northeast Siberia. They are fishers or reindeer herders. They are rather tiny ethnic groups, all together they are scarce tens of thousands. They used to be more numerous up to the 18th century when the smallpox epidemy and the fights against Russian Cossack colonizers curbed their demography down. Their nomadic or semi-sedentary life, in yaranga tents in the tundra, is certainly very harsh.
The history of writing in Koryak is a matter of the 20th century. Literacy came to this part of the world with the Soviet program of "civilizing" the autochthonous peoples of Siberia. Truly autonomous literary development happens just in recent decades, but it is based upon a long tradition of orally transmitted myths, often speaking of the Great Raven.
Bibliography
Karen Langgard and Kirsten Thisted (eds.), From oral tradition to rap. Literatures of the Polar North, Ilisimatusarfik/Forlaget Atuagkat, 2011.
The history of writing in Koryak is a matter of the 20th century. Literacy came to this part of the world with the Soviet program of "civilizing" the autochthonous peoples of Siberia. Truly autonomous literary development happens just in recent decades, but it is based upon a long tradition of orally transmitted myths, often speaking of the Great Raven.
Bibliography
Karen Langgard and Kirsten Thisted (eds.), From oral tradition to rap. Literatures of the Polar North, Ilisimatusarfik/Forlaget Atuagkat, 2011.
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