Mikhail Anatolyevich Chlenov (26.09.1940 — 7.08.2024)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the memory of anthropologist M. A. Chlenov (1940–2024) and reviews his contributions to three areas of knowledge: northern (Arctic) studies, Indonesian / Southeast Asia studies, and Jewish studies. Having graduated from the Moscow State University with a degree in Oriental languages and after spending two years of internship as an interpreter in Eastern Indonesia, Chlenov defended his dissertation on the ethnic history of the Moluccas. Political realities since the late 1960s forced him to switch from Indonesian studies to the more accessible fieldwork in Siberia and the Russian Arctic. He contributed to the study of the social organization of Asiatic Eskimo and discovered the monumental ancient site that he called the ‘Whale Alley.’ In the 1970s, Chlenov also learned Hebrew and began teaching it to the Jewish “refusniks”; he also studied Jewish history and Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union. He was a man of encyclopedic knowledge and the author of many seminal publications in all areas of his diverse interests.