NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: social sciences, traditional knowledge, archaeology

Objective(s): To document traditional knowledge of Banks Island that could contribute to the understanding of life on the island in the past.

Project Description: The primary objectives of this research are to 1) document traditional knowledge of Banks Island that could contribute to our understanding of life on the island in the past; 2) document differences in understandings of the past and heritage management values among Sachs Harbour residents; 3) identify similarities and differences between Inuvialuit and archaeological values, priorities and understandings of the past; 4) work with Sachs Harbour community members to develop culturally appropriate questions about Banks Island’s past that can be addressed through future research; 5) determine what kinds of research products would be most useful to community members (e.g. website, displays, posters, artifact replicas, instructional materials for schools, information packages for tourists etc.). The principal investigator (PI) will conduct semi-structured interviews with community members including Elders and other interested individuals. There are two goals to these interviews. First, the PI will be using topographic maps to record traditional land use (TLU) information. The PI will ask participants to indicate the locations of hunting and fishing sites that they or their ancestors used. The PI will also ask participants about their knowledge of animal movements and if they have come across an archaeological remains during their time on the land. The TLU information will help determine areas that could potentially contain archaeological sites, and could be incorporated into the project website. Second, participants will be asked about their views of past archaeological research, their own understandings of the past and whether and how those understandings could be shared within and beyond the Inuvialuit community. With permission from participants, the interviews will be audio recorded. Although the majority of community members are fluent in English, some Elders are more comfortable speaking Inuvialuktun, and the PI will work with a translator while interviewing them. Towards the end of the field season, Hodgetts and Kelvin will host a workshop in Sachs Harbour where they will invite representatives from the Community Corporation, the Hunters and Trappers Committee, Elders and other interested individuals to go over research results and begin planning. This research will help to preserve participants' oral histories and traditional knowledge of Banks Island. Participants will also help to shape the direction of future collaborative community-based archaeological research on the past human occupation of Banks Island. Local translators will be used to translate interviews with community members who only speak Inuvialuktun. The proposed research will contribute to public education about Inuvialuit culture and lifeway’s, past and present, by creating an interactive website that includes both Inuvialuit and archaeological understandings of the past on Banks Island. Community members will actively participate in the designing and determining the content of the website. There is also potential for community members to participate in the making of short videos about Banks Island history and heritage that could be hosted by the website. The results will be disseminated to the Sachs Harbour community through an interactive website the PI will design in collaboration with community members. Results will also be disseminated through community meetings and the Ikaahuk Archaeology Project’s Facebook page. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from May 15, 2015 to June 15, 2015.