NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: social sciences, culture, oral history

Objective(s): The researchers plan to interview about 80 people over two years, mostly local community members, and to publish the interviews in book form to bring the voices of these people to the Canadian and American public.

Project Description: The researchers plan to interview about 80 people over two years, mostly local community members, and to publish the interviews in book form to bring the voices of these people to the Canadian and American public. The Arctic region of Alaska and western Canada is known for its abundant energy resources and wildlife species, but the area cannot be understood simply as a disembodied collection of environmental and economic issues. This region is also home to an abundance of cultures and distinctive voices including those of the Gwich'in and Inuit (Inuvialluit and Inupiat), oil workers, recreationalists, and others who make their home in or visit this oft-politicized place. Arctic Gardens will be the published results of one of this oral history project. Through interviews with both permanent residents and visitors to the region, the authors will collect the stories of the people on the ground, and relay them in book form. The researchers plan to visit eleven Gwich'in and Inuit villages to ask people to share stories of their relationship to the land. The authors will also interview oil field workers, hunters, backpackers, wilderness guides, and others. These stories, edited for length and clarity, will be submitted to the speakers for approval prior to publication. The two researchers will use digital recorders in order to get high-quality recordings of the interviews. They will spend about 5-7 days in each community this year and next - this year between June 20 and July 2. They hope to interview 6-8 people in each location each year, and would expect the interviews to last about 30-90 minutes. This study will also take place in Old Crow and in Alaska. The researchers will get every informant a copy of the book once published, and will provide them to libraries and other locations for public access. They hope to have the interviews translated into Gwich'in and Inuvialuit and provide it to those informants or libraries that want them. The purpose of this project is to publicize and popularize the understanding of all Americans and Canadians of the rich cultural heritage of the Arctic people, especially as it relates to their relationship to the land. Such understanding will encourage a more robust consideration of these cultures as important policy decisions are made by the two national governments. The voices of the people will be in the published form of verbatim interviews of several pages each in the book that will result, "Arctic Gardens- Voices from an Abundant Land". Fieldwork will be conducted from June 20 to July 11, 2007 in Inuvik and Fort McPherson. N.B. Pending approval from the community organizations in Tuktoyaktuk and Tsiigehtchic an amendment to this licence will be drawn up to allow data collection in these communities.