Arctic ethnology, indigenous knowledge, social systems, modern cultures; Arctic environment and climate change; cultural heritage and heritage preservation; history of Arctic/North Pacific ethnological research
Igor Krupnik received his Ph.D. in anthropology/cultural ecology at the Institute of Ethnography in Moscow, Russia (1977) and has been active in Arctic socio-cultural and heritage research since the 1970s. He currently works as Curator of Arctic and Northern ethnology collections at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. He has conducted fieldwork in local communities in the Russian Arctic and in Alaska, especially in the Northern Bering-Sea-Bering Strait region. His main fields of interest include socio-cultural systems of northern indigenous people, community adaptation to rapid change, environmental knowledge, and heritage/knowledge preservation,
Public Biography
Igor Krupnik joined the Smithsonian NMNH' Arctic Studies Center in 1991, after teaching at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and working for 14 years at the Institute of Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he was appointed NMNH curator of Arctic and northern ethnology collections in 2005. In 1992-2002, he co-chaired (with William Fitzhugh) the "Jesup-2" international program dedicated to the centennial of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 1897-1902. In 2004-2010, he served as a member of the Joint Committee for the International Polar Year 2007-2008 and as lead editor of its main report volume, "Understanding Earth Polar Challenges" (2011). He was among the founding members of the International Arctic Social Sciences Association and served on its Council in 1990-1995 and in 2004-2008.
Arctic, North America, indigenous people, socio-cultural systems, heritage, traditional knowledge, modernization, northern ethnological collections, history of anthropological research
Publications
selected publications
article
Krupnik, Igor. 2022. "Faces We Remember: Assessing Visual Memory Depth among the Yupik of Chukotka and St. Lawrence Island." Etudes/Inuit/Studies, 45, (1-2) 63–91.
2022
Krupnik, Igor. 2021. "Competing Arctic Paths: Cohort Assessment of the Fifth Thule Expedition Legacy." Alaska Journal of Anthropology, 91–106. 19, (1-2),
2021
Harper, Kenn and Krupnik, Igor. 2021. "From Greenland to the Pacific: Introduction to the Fifth Thule Expedition Centennial, 1921-1924." Alaska Journal of Anthropology 19 (1-2):6-22.
2021
Krupnik, Igor. 2018. "'Arctic Crashes:' Revisiting the Human-Animal Disequilibrium Model in a Time of Rapid Change." Human Ecology 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-9990-12018
Krupnik, Igor, Rubis, Jennifer, and Nakashima, Douglas. 2018. "Epilogue: Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation." in Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation, edited by Nakashima, Douglas, Krupnik, Igor, and Rubis, Jennifer., 280-290. Cambridge University Press and UNESCO Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1017/97813164810662018
Krupnik, Igor and Bogoslovskaya, Lyudmila S. 2017. ""Our Ice, Snow and Winds": From Knowledge Integration to Co-Production in the Russian SIKU Project, 2007-2013." in Oral History meets Linguistics, edited by Kasten, Erich, Roller, Katja, and Wilbur, Joshua., 31-48. Kulturstiftung Sibirien.
2017
Krupnik, Igor. 2017. "Arctic/Siberian/Sakha Collections at the Smithsonian Institution." in Siberian Collections in the U.S. Museums, edited by Ivanova, Zinaida., 404-421.
2017
Krupnik, Igor. 2017. "The Culture Will Protect the Nature: Along the Trails of Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya." in Those Who Face the Sea: In Memory of Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya (in Russian), edited by Krupnik, Igor., 11-36. August Borg.
2017
Ray, G. C., Hufford, Gary L., Overland, James E., Krupnik, Igor, McCormick-Ray, Jerry, Frey, Karen, and Labunski, Elizabeth. 2016. "Decadal Bering Sea seascape change: consequences for Pacific walruses and indigenous hunters." Ecological Applications 26 (1):24-41. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-04302016
Krupnik, Igor. 2016. "One Field Season and 50-Year Career: Franz Boas and Early Eskimology." in Early Inuit Studies: Themes and Transitions, 1850s-1980s, edited by Krupnik, Igor., 73-83. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
2016
Krupnik, Igor, Bogoslovskaya, L. S., Vdovin, B. I., Golbtseva, V. V., Kalyuzhina, N. I., and Nuvano, V. I. 2014. "Project SIKU in Eastern Chukotka, 2007-2013: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in the Era of Global Change." Ecological Planning and Management 2 (15):72-88.
2014
Krupnik, Igor. 2014. "Sergei Bogojavlensky and his legacy in Alaska Sociocultural Research." Alaska Journal of Anthropology 12 (1):25-52.
2014
Krupnik, Igor and Stern, Richard O. 2012. "Remembering Ernest S. "Tiger" Burch, Jr., 17 April 1938 to 16 September 2010." Ethnology 59 (1):163-169.
2012
Krupnik, Igor. 2011. "'How many Eskimo words for ice?' Collecting Inuit sea ice terminologies in the International Polar Year 2007-2008." Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe canadien 55 (1):56-68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.2010.00345.x2011
Krupnik, Igor. 2011. "From IPY-1 to IGY: Early Lessons in Making Global Science." in Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Allison, I., Bell, R., Cutler, P., Hik, D., Lopez-Martinez, J., Rachold, V., Sarukhanian, E., and Summerhayes, C., 5-28. Canadian Circumpolar Institute.
2011
Krupnik, Igor. 2011. "IPY 2007-2008 and Social Sciences: A Challenge of Fifty Years." in Arctic Social Sciences - Prospects for the International Polar Year 2007-2008 Era and Beyound, edited by Poppel, B. and Csonka, Y., 61-93. Ilimatusarfik - University of Greenland.
2011
Allison, Ian and Krupnik, Igor. 2011. "Organization and Implementation of IPY: 2005-2009." in Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Allison, Ian, Bell, R., Cutler, P., Hik, D., Lopez-Martinez, J., Rachold, Volker, Sarukhanian, E., and Summerheyes, Colin., 87-114. Canadian Circumpolar Institute.
2011
Fitzhugh, William W., Krupnik, Igor, and Muller-Wille, Ludger. 2010. "Laying the Groundwork for Arctic Social Science 1985-1990." Northern Notes: Newsletter of the Arctic Social Science Association 18-20.
2010
Krupnik, Igor and Weyapuk, Winton, Jr. 2010. "Qanuq Ilitaavut:"How We Learned What We Know" (Wales Inupiaq Sea Ice Dictionary)." in SIKU : knowing our ice : documenting Inuit sea ice knowledge and use, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Aporta, Claudio, Gearheard, Shari, Laidler, Gita J., and Holm, Lene Kielsen., 321-354. Springer.
2010
Krupnik, Igor, Aporta, Claudio, and Laidler, Gita J. 2010. "SIKU: International Polar Year Project #166 (An Overview)." in SIKU: knowing our ice : documenting Inuit sea ice knowledge and use, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Aporta, Claudio, Gearheard, Shari, Laidler, Gita J., and Holm, Lene Kielsen., 1-29. Springer.
2010
Krupnik, Igor. 2009. ""The Ice We Want Our Children to Know": SIKU Project in Alaska and Siberia." Alaska Park Science 8 (2):122-127.
2009
Krupnik, Igor. 2009. "From Jesup-1 to Jesup-2: The Centennial Decade (1902-2002) Revisited." in "The Raven Arch" (1903-2002). The Jesup North Pacific Expedition Revisited, edited by Tanimoto, Kazounobu and Inoue, Koichi., 1-28. National Museum of Ethnology.
2009
Krupnik, Igor and Bogoslovskaya, Lyudmila S. 2008. "International Polar Year 2007-2008: The SIKU Project in Alaska and Chukotka." in Beringia - A Bridge of Friendship, 196-2004. Tomsk University Press.
2008
Krupnik, Igor. 2008. "Socio-Cultural field in IPY 2007-2008: History, Structure, Major Topics (in Russian)." Ekologicheskoe planirovanie i upravlenie (Ecological Planning and Management) 3-4 (8-9):6-22.
2008
Krupnik, Igor and Chlenov, Mikhail. 2008. "The end of "Eskimo Land": Yupik relocations in Chukotka, 1958-1959." Études Inuit. Inuit Studies 31 (1-2):59-81.
2008
Krupnik, Igor and Bogoslovskaya, L. S. 2007. "Arctic people and climate change: SIKU project in Beringia (in Russian)." Ecological Planning and Management 4 (5):77-84.
2007
Virginia, R. A., Yalowitz, K. S., and Krupnik, Igor. 2007. "Introduction: Perceptions of Arctic Climate Change." in Thin Ice: Inuit Traditions within a Changing Environment, edited by Stuckenberger, N., 12-15. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College.
2007
Krupnik, Igor. 2007. "Progress Report on International Polar Year 2007–2008: How Are We Doing?." Northern Notes (Newsletter of the International Arctic Social Sciences Association) 4-9.
2007
book
Bogoslovskaia, Liudmila Sergeevna, Slugin, Ivan V., Zagrebin, Igor, Krupnik, Igor, Bell, Marina, and Mason, Rachel. 2016. Maritime Hunting Culture of Chukotka: Traditions and Modern Practices. National Park Service, Shared Beringian Heritage Program.
2016
Krupnik, Igor. 2016. Those Who Face the Sea: In Memory of Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya (in Russian). August Borg.
2016
Krupnik, Igor and Chlenov, Michael A. 2013. Yupik transitions: change and survival at Bering Strait, 1900-1960. University of Alaska Press.
2013
Weyapuk, Winton and Krupnik, Igor. 2012. Kinikmi Sigum Qanuq Ilitaavut, Wales Inupiaq Sea Ice Dictionary. Arctic Studies Center.
2012
Bogoslovskaya, L. S., Slugin, I., Zagrebin, I., and Krupnik, Igor. 2007. Osnovy morskogo zveroboinogo promysla [Marine Mammal Hunting: Scientific and Practical Handbook]. Russian Institute of Cultural Heritage.
2007
Allison, Ian, Beland, Michel, Alverson, Keith, Bell, Robin, Carlson, David, Danell, Kjell, Ellis-Evans, Cynan, Fahrbach, Eberhard, Fanta, Edith, Fujii, Yoshiyuki, Glaser, Gisbert, Goldfarb, Leah, Hovelsrud, Grete, Huber, Johannes, Kotlyakov, Vladimir, Krupnik, Igor, Lopez-Martinez, Jeronimo, Mohr, Tillmann, Qin, Dahe, Rachold, Volker, Rapley, Chris, Rogne, Odd, Sarukhanian, Eduard, Summerhayes, Colin, and Xiao, Cunde. 2007. The Scope of Science for the International Polar Year 2007–2008. WMO/TD 1364. World Meteorological Organization.
2007
chapter
Eicken, Hajo, Krupnik, Igor, Weyapuk, Winton, Jr., and Druckenmiller, Matthew. 2022. "Learning about Sea Ice from the Kingikmiut: A Decade of Ice Seasons at Wales, Alaska, 2006-2016." In Resilience through Knowledge Co-Production. Indigenous Knowledge, Science, and Global Environmental Change. Roue, Marie, Nakashima, Douglas, and Krupnik, Igor, editors. 43–66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and UNESCO. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108974349.
2022
Krupnik, Igor. 2022. "Negotiating Co-production: Climbing the Learning Curve." In Resilience through Knowledge Co-Production. Indigenous Knowledge, Science, and Global Environmental Change. Roue, Marie, Nakashima, Douglas, and Krupnik, Igor, editors. 277–286. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and UNESCO. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108974349.
2022
Krupnik, Igor. 2020. "Pacific Walrus, People, and Sea Ice: Relations ar Subpopulation Scale, 1825-2015." in Arctic Crashes: People and Animals in the Changing North, edited by Krupnik, Igor and Crowell, Aron L., 351-374. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
2020
Krupnik, Igor. 2020. "Studying "Arctic Crashes": Human-Animal Relations in a Time of Rapid Change." in Arctic Crashes: People and Animals in the Changing North, edited by Krupnik, Igor and Crowell, Aron L., 3-21. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
2020
Krupnik, Igor. 2017. "How We Practiced History and Ethnology: To the 35th Anniversary of the Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Commission, 1981–1990." in Soviet Judaica: History, Topics, and Personalities, edited by Kupovetsky, Mark., 286-360. Mosty kul'tury.
2017
Krupnik, Igor. 2017. "Living on a Changing Planet: Why Indigenous Voices Matter." in Living in the Anthropocene: Earth in the Age of Humans, edited by Kress, W. John and Stine, Jeffrey K., 78-82. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
2017
Bogoslovskaya, Lyudmila and Krupnik, Igor. 2017. "The Changing Cultural Scapes of Sea Mammal Hunters of the Bering Strait Area: 1970s-2000s." in In the Heritage Focus (V Fokuse naslediia) - in Russian, edited by Kuleshova, Marina E., 359-381. Institute of Geography.
2017
Krupnik, Igor. 2017. "Waldemar Bogoras and The Chukchee: A Maestro and a Classical Ethnography." in The Chukchee, edited by Bogoras, Waldemar, Duerr, Michael, and Kasten, Erich., 9-45. Kulturstiftung Sibirien.
2017
Krupnik, Igor and Chlenov, Michael. 2016. "A "New Land": History of the formation of the Uwellkal Yupik Eskimo Community." in Those Who Face the Sea: In Memory of Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya (in Russian), edited by Krupnik, Igor., 396-421. August Borg.
2016
Krupnik, Igor. 2016. "Closing the (Arctic) Circle: Ernest S. Burch and the "Peoples of the Arctic" Map." in Early Inuit Studies: Themes and Transitions, 1850s-1980s, edited by Krupnik, Igor., 374-409. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
2016
Krupnik, Igor. 2016. "Editor's Preface." in Early Inuit Studies: Themes and Transitions, 1850s-1980s, edited by Krupnik, Igor., xv-xviii. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
2016
Krupnik, Igor. 2016. "From Boas to Burch: Eskimology Transitions." in Early Inuit Studies: Themes and Transitions, 1850s-1980s, edited by Krupnik, Igor., 1-32. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
2016
Chlenov, Michael and Krupnik, Igor. 2016. "Naukan: Chapters to Community History (in Russian)." in Saveguard and Ensure: Cultural Heritage of Chukotka: Prospects in Protection and Conservation (in Russian), edited by Bronshtein, Mikhail., 38-73. Museum of Oriental Arts.
2016
Krupnik, Igor. 2016. "On Birds, People, and Indigenous Knowledge (in Russian)." in Those Who Face the Sea: In Memory of Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya (in Russian), edited by Krupnik, Igor., 120-149. August Borg.
2016
Krupnik, Igor and Alpyrgin, Bogoslovskaya L. 2013. "Naukanski Sea Ice Dictionary: Reconstructing a Cultural Ice-Scape (in Russian)." in Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Proceedings of the Institute of Linguistic Studies, edited by Vakhtin, N. and Perekhvalskaya, E., 166-188. Institute of Linguistic Studies.
2013
Chlenov, Michael and Krupnik, Igor. 2012. "Novaia zemlia: istoriia poslednei migratsii aziatskikh eskimosov (1920–1935) [The "New Land": To the History of the Last Migration of the Yupik/Asiatic Eskimo, 1920–1935]." in Vekhi na mysakh (Milestones on the Capes). Festschrift in honor of Sergei A. Arutyunov, edited by Bronshtein, Michael and Krupnik, Igor., 70-83. Museum of Oriental Arts.
2012
Krupnik, Igor. 2012. "Reading Tiger Burch: From Skeptic to Believer." in Caribou Herds of Northwest Alaska: 1850-2000, edited by Burch, Ernest S., Jr. and Krupnik, Igor., xi-xiv. University of Alaska Press.
2012
Krupnik, Igor, Ellis-Evans, Cynan, and Elfring, Chris. 2011. "Early Planning for IPY: 2003-2004." in Understanding earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Allison, Ian, Bell, R., Cutler, P., Hik, D., Lopez-Martinez, J., Rachold, Volker, Sarukhanian, E., and Summerheyes, Colin., 49-68. Canadian Circumpolar Institute.
2011
Krupnik, Igor. 2011. "How IPY 2007-2008 Was Born: 1997-2003." in Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Allison, Ian, Bell, R., Cutler, P., Hik, D., Lopez-Martinez, J., Rachold, Volker, Sarukhanian, E., and Summerheyes, Colin., 29-48. Canadian Circumpolar Institute.
2011
Hovelsrud, Grete, Krupnik, Igor, and White, Jeremy. 2011. "Human-Based Observing Systems." in Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Allison, Ian, Bell, R., Cutler, P., Hik, D., Lopez-Martinez, J., Rachold, Volker, Sarukhanian, E., and Summerheyes, Colin., 435-456. Canadian Circumpolar Institute.
2011
Summerhayes, Colin, Rachold, Volker, and Krupnik, Igor. 2011. "IPY and Expending Partnership in Coordination of Polar Research." in Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Allison, Ian, Bell, R., Cutler, P., Hik, D., Lopez-Martinez, J., Rachold, Volker, Sarukhanian, E., and Summerhayes, Colin., 593-608. Canadian Circumpolar Institute.
2011
Krupnik, Igor and Hoveslrud, Grete. 2011. "Polar Societies and Social Processes." in Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: Internationa Polar Year 2007-2008, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Allison, Ian, Bell, R., Cutler, P., Hik, D., Lopez-Martinez, J., Rachold, Volker, Sarukhanian, E., and Summerheyes, Colin., 311-334. Canadian Circumpolar Institute.
2011
Krupnik, Igor, Apangalook, Leonard, and Apangalook, Paul. 2010. ""It's Cold, but Not Cold Enough": Observing Ice and Climate Change in Gambell, Alaska, in IPY 2007–2008 and Beyond." in SIKU: knowing our ice : documenting Inuit sea ice knowledge and use, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Aporta, Claudio, Gearheard, Shari, Laidler, Gita J., and Holm, Lene Kielsen., 81-114. Springer.
2010
Krupnik, Igor and Müller-Wille, Ludger. 2010. "Franz Boas and Inuktitut Terminology for Ice and Snow: From the Emergence of the Field to the "Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax"." in SIKU: knowing our ice : documenting Inuit sea ice knowledge and use, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Aporta, Claudio, Gearheard, Shari, Laidler, Gita J., and Holm, Lene Kielsen., 377-400. Springer.
2010
Krupnik, Igor. 2010. "How Many Eskimo Words for Ice (New Studies on Eskimo Ice terminologies during International Polar Year 2007-2008." in Studia Anthropologica: A Festschrift in Honour to Michail Chlenov, edited by Fedorchuk, Artem and Chlenova, Svetlana., 409-443. Gesharim.
2010
Krupnik, Igor and Chlenov, Mikhail. 2009. "Distant Lands and Brave Pioneers: Original Thule Migration Revisited." in On the Track of the Thule Culture from Bering Strait to East Greenland, edited by Gronnow, Bjarne., 13-24. Danish National Museum.
2009
Krupnik, Igor and Vakhtin, Nikolai. 2009. "Remebering and Forgetting. Culture Change and Indigenous Knowledge in Chukotka in the post-Jesup Era (in Japanese)." in "The Raven Arch" (1903-2002). The Jesup North Pacific Expedition Revisited, edited by Tanimoto, Kazounobu and Inoue, Koichi., 209-232. National Museum of Ethnology.
2009
Bogoslovskaya, Lyudmila S. and Krupnik, Igor. 2008. "Traditional Sea Mammal Hunting in Chukotka: Generational Replacement at the Turn of the Century." in Tropoyu Bogoraza/Along the Path of Bogoras (in Russian), edited by Bogoslovskaya, L. S., Krivoshchekov, V., and Krupnik, Igor I., 166-174. Russian Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage.
2008
Krupnik, Igor. 2008. "Waldemar Bogoras, His Time and His Disciples." in Tropoyu Bogoraza/ Along the Path of Bogoras (in Russian), edited by Bogoslovskaya, Ludmila S., Krivoshchekov, V., and Krupnik, Igor., 17-22. Russian Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage.
2008
conference paper
Crowell, Aron L., Krupnik, Igor, Fitzhugh, William W., Engelstad, Bernadette, Dean, Bernadette, Harper, Kenneth, MacKenzie, Scott, Michelsen, Knud, Kleist, Mari, Griebel, Brendan, Sonne, Birgitte, Pratt, Kenneth, Shokarev, Sergei, Schwalbe, Daria, Appelt, Martin, Nielsen, Bent, Norbert, Eileen, and Bronshtein, Michael. 2021. "From Greenland to the Pacific: Centennial of the Fifth Thule Expedition, 1921-1924." in Alaska Journal of Anthropology. 19 (1-2), iii–269. 46th Annual meeting of the Alaska Anthropological Association (Nome, Alaska) 2019-02-28. Alaska Anthropological Association.
2021