NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region

Tags: #religiousstudies, #Muslims, #ArcticIslam, #ethnography

Objective(s): To understand Muslims experiences in environments around the Arctic Circle in Canada.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 6160. I am interested how Muslims make sense of Islam in environments around the Arctic Circle in Canada. There, their religious traditions seem more challenged than elsewhere. For example, because of the extreme light conditions. Thus, I ask: • How do Muslims in the Arctic live their lives, both as individuals and as a community? • From which authorities do they seek advice for practical, religious, and juridical matters? • What are their ideas of community, home and belonging? • How do they relate to their new neighbours and environment? Muslims in Arctic Canada belongs to a bigger research project which also covers Arctic Norway. I hope to contribute with a new perspective to the academic debate on Muslim subjectivity formation today. I also wish to offer new insights to newcomer/Indigenous relations in Canada. I will engage in participant observation and interview community members. Participant observation means that I participate and volunteer in all kinds of public events and events that I am allowed to participate in such as women's circles, social activities for the community. I observe what I experience there and take notes about it. Interviews: Interviews take approximately 2 to 3 hours. I have a collection of questions, but we do not need to cover all of them. The interviews will be semi-structured. This means, we will focus on the flow of the interview and on the participant's interests rather than going through the questions one by one. My questions concern buying, travelling, praying, eating, celebrating holidays, and moments of struggle and comfort. There are also life story interviews. They focus on the participant's life course and experience. I have started my fieldwork in 2023 already, but accidentally applied for a 1-year licence only (see previous licence #5694), therefore I have been in touch with members of the Muslim community in Yellowknife, Inuvik and Whitehorse already. In Inuvik, I am additionally in touch with the mayor and the Arctic Foodbank via phone and Facebook and I plan to meet them soon after the Christmas holidays. I have also been in touch with other NWT stakeholders via email: Yellowknife Dene (dettahadmin@ykdene.com), North Slave Métis Alliance (general@nsma.net), NWT Métis (info@nwtmetis.ca), Inuvialuit Inuvik (iccmanager@inuvialuitcc.com), Gwich'in Inuvik (President@nihtatgwichin.ca). I am waiting for their response and feedback. Throughout the process, I am planning to stay in touch with stakeholders via e-mail and phone calls where desired and necessary. Together with the community in Yellowknife, we were starting to think about ideas to share my research in the framework of a community event. I am also planning to keep research participants and the communities updated when I go back to YK and Inuvik for my second visit in summer. That is also the reason why I decided to extend my research to include Behchoko and Fort Smith. I am not yet sure if I will be able to go there, but I would like to get in touch with the Muslims living there of whom I heard when in Yellowknife. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: May 04 - December 31, 2025