Regions: Gwich'in Settlement Area
Tags: social sciences, vegetation, traditional knowledge, elders, traditional medicine, culture, Gwich'in, social impact, lifestyle change, ethnobotany, traditional plant use
| Principal Investigator: | Andre, Alestine (3) |
| Licence Number: | 13322 |
| Organization: | Gwich'in Social & Cultural Institute |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2002
|
| Issued: | Jun 16, 2002 |
| Project Team: | Ruth Welsh |
Objective(s): The past two centuries have brought tremendous change to the Gwich'in culture. Since the 1940's the Gwich'in people began to move off the land slowly and they are now settled into 4 main communities in the NWT. The change in life style, from bush life to westernized wage economy life, has changed how traditional knowledge about Gwich'in culture and language is passed from one generation to the next. Committed effort must be made to ensure that Gwich'in traditional knowledge is passed on or this knowledge may be lost forever within the next 10 years. The primary objective of this collaborative research work between Ruth Welsh, Gwich'in Elder and Plant Specialist, and myself as a Gwich'in Graduate student is to make sure that the traditional plant knowledge and the uses of plants for medicine is documented for future use by the Gwich'in. The text and pictorial documentation will include the identification, the collection, the preparation, the uses and the names of the plants, trees, and shrubs in the Gwich'in language.
