NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: climate change, anthropology, traditional food, traditional knowledge, adaptation planning, food security, cultural sustainability, oral history

Objective(s): To assist the Inuvialuit in adaptation planning that will meet ongoing environmental and social challenges, while also maintaining their rights under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and to examine the critical impacts of environmental, economic and social change on traditional food availability and determine the range of socially, culturally and physically acceptable adaptations.

Project Description: The purpose of this project is to assist the Inuvialuit in adaptation planning that will meet ongoing environmental and social challenges, while also maintaining their rights under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The existing knowledge, skills and networks that facilitate such adaptations are important community ‘assets’ that form the basis of capacity-building. The goal of the research project will be achieved by working with the participating communities to examine the critical impacts of environmental, economic and social change on traditional food availability and to determine the range of socially, culturally and physically acceptable adaptations. The research plan and methodology examines impacts of environmental and social change and their implications for Inuit diet and nutritional health in five communities in the Western Arctic. It proceeds in three parts: 1. Historical Analysis: Determining the historical context of adaptation and environmental change through analysis of the historical literature, particularly the existing oral history archives of the Inuvialuit Oral Histories Project, the Kitigaaryuit Oral Traditions Research Project, and the Yellow Beetle Oral History and Archaeology Project. This will assess the extent and nature of historical adaptation in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR), providing a context for current physical and biomedical studies and adaptation planning. As well, the experience of other northern indigenous peoples faced with challenges to food and cultural security, particularly the Inuit of Nunavik and Greenland, and the Ainu of Japan will be studied through a review of the historical and anthropological literature and possible models for adaptation will be constructed. 2. Data Analysis: The nutritional data of the Inuit Health Survey (2008) and the environmental data from Nickels (2006) will be analyzed and compared with the historical data to determine current trends in Inuit diet and the physical environment in the ISR. 3. Anthropological Study: The range of possibilities for adaptation will be developed through semi-structured oral interviews conducted during a two-week period in each community. Each interview will last approximately one hour (although duration will be left to the participants) and will explore individual reactions to issues in food security, environmental change, and cultural security. The results of the interviews will be made anonymous, collated, analyzed and the results developed through community focus groups made up of administrators, hunters, community leaders and community representatives. This project will involve diverse members of the partner communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region through individual semi-structured oral interviews with as many community members as possible. Targeted focus groups will also be held with community representatives. A local coordinator and interpreters will be hired for each community to organize and facilitate local arrangements. Results will be presented orally to each community in person by the Research team over the local radio in the form of a plain language synopsis. Copies of the final report will also be deposited in each community and copies will be provided to the ISR Joint Secretariat and the Aurora Research Institute. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from August 3, 2012 to December 31, 2012.