Lessons in field ethnography: marking the centenary of Ivan Soykkonen’s expedition to Yakutia

This article examines the work of the Yakut Ethnographic Detachment within the Yakut Complex Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1926–1927). Drawing on archival documents, the author reconstructs the research directions, metho­dology, and key findings of Ivan Soykkonen, the head and sole member of the detachment. Soykkonen collected a unique body of data on family life, anthropology of childhood, material and spiritual culture of the Yakuts in the trans‑river uluses, as well as substantial folklore, archaeographic, and visual collections. Special attention is paid to the approaches he employed: learning the Yakut language prior to expedition, identifying informants through local respected figures, concentrating efforts on a limited number of settlements, spending funds sparingly, and flexibly adapting his methods to field conditions. The author uses his own field materials to verify Soykkonen’s methods and to demonstrate their relevance for contemporary field ethnography.