The Art of (Not) Selling: Temporality of Trade in Chukotka’s Villages

The article is devoted to the analysis of the specific features of contemporary trade in Chukotka. The authors focus not so much on the fact of sales as on the analysis of the factors that constrain or hinder the process of selling goods. Using field materials gathered during four expeditions to the Anadyr and Chukotka districts of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in 2023 and 2024 as an example, the article examines the temporal dimension of trade relations in remote villages, analysing possible reasons leading to the postponement and slowdown of sales of scarce goods for which there is an increased demand. The article considers local strategies of time management in the context of trade relations, analysing the ways used by sellers to increase the period of product shelf life, which allows them to manipulate the period of its sale. In such a context, the temporal dimension appears as relative and changeable through the active actions of the local agents themselves.