Cover from the book "Environments, Resources, and Infrastructures Between Russia and the Asia-Pacific". It shows the Golden Bridge in Vladivostok

Zitationsvorschlag

Fast, Luise: 3 Trust, Anxiety, and Power in the Yukon Backcountry: Reading Zagoskin’s Expedition Journal, 1842–1844, in Beuerle, Benjamin et al. (Hrsg.): Environments, Resources, and Infrastructures Between Russia and the Asia-Pacific, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2025 (Russia and the Asia-Pacific, Band 2), S. 47–72. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.1589.c23566

Lizenz (Kapitel)

Creative Commons License

Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 International.

Identifier (Buch)

https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.1589
ISBN 978-3-96822-330-8 (PDF)
ISBN 978-3-96822-331-5 (Hardcover)

Veröffentlicht

11.12.2025

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Autor/innen

Luise Fast

3 Trust, Anxiety, and Power in the Yukon Backcountry: Reading Zagoskin’s Expedition Journal, 1842–1844

Abstract The expedition journal of Lavrentiy Alexeyevich Zagoskin from the early 1840s introduces a number of interpreters and intermediaries who, in one way or another, partook in the Russian American Company’s push into the Yukon backcountry. Mapping the relationship between explorer and interpreter as a function of fluctuating economies of trust and mistrust, this paper investigates interaction histories that often remain hidden on account of the ephemeral nature of interpreting. They reveal how literacy and experience (or the lack thereof) impacted the emotional regime of the exploration party, and challenge, rather than confirm, the power dynamic between empire and colony on the periphery, opening up spaces for negotiation, strategic action, and creative adaptation for the Native intermediary.

Keywords Alaska, fur trade, intermediaries, Indigenous