Vol. 5 · No. 1
The Turukhansk Polar Census Expedition of 1926–1927 at the Crossroads of Two Scientific Traditions

David G. Anderson

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Abstract

This article gives an overview of the primary records of the 1926–1927 Turukhansk Polar Census Expedition. The author argues that rather than being an exercise in statistical surveillance, the expedition can be better characterized as a classical expedition of discovery. The article describes the structure of the expedition and the documents that were collected, places the expedition in a history of the surveillance of aboriginal peoples, and presents a research program for re-analyzing the data in light of the contemporary interests of Siberian indigenous peoples.

Keywords: indigenous; census; Evenki; Ket; ethnography; exploration