Seeing like an Inuit family: The relationship between house form and culture in northern Canada

Dans son classique Esssai sur les variations saisonnières des sociétés Eskimos, Marcel Mauss a demontré qu’un fort rapport existe entre l’organisation spatiale des formes traditionnelles des maisons des Inuit et la morphologie sociale des familles qu’elles abritent. Ces observations devancent les ouvrages plus récents en anthropologie qui examinent comment des processus culturels sont reflétés dans, et soutenus par, l’environnement bâti. De telles idées sont importantes en considérant les effets des programmes de logement d’après-guerre sur des familles inuit de l’Arctique canadien. Durant les années 60, des tentatives ont été faites pour restructurer les habitudes des familles inuit par des cours en économie domestique et par l’architecture euro-canadienne. Cependant, des observations ethnographiques récentes de ménages inuit indiquent que beaucoup continuent à utiliser leurs maisons de manières traditionnelles. De cette façon, les familles inuit essayent de s’adapter à des habitations conçues autour de concepts du ménage et de la vie familiale provenant d’une autre culture. Les idées de Mauss sont donc un rappel poignant qu’il faut tenir compte des facteurs culturels en développant la politique du logement autochtone.In his classic essay Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo, Marcel Mauss argued that a strong relationship exists between the spatial organisation of traditional Inuit house forms and the social morphology of the families they shelter. These observations anticipate later works in anthropology that examine how cultural processes are reflected in, and sustained by, the built environment. Such ideas are important when considering the effects of post-war housing programs on Inuit families in the Canadian Arctic. During the 1960s, attempts were made to restructure the routines of Inuit families through Euro-Canadian architecture and home economics classes. Recent ethnographic observations of Inuit households in operation, however, reveal that many continue to use their houses in traditional ways. By doing so, Inuit families are attempting to adapt to dwellings designed around another culture’s concept of homemaking and family life. Mauss’s ideas are therefore a poignant reminder of the need to take cultural factors into account when developing aboriginal housing policy

Becoming adults in a rural Yup'ik community: a longitudinal qualitative study exploring resilience

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013The aim of this study is to explore strategies for navigating challenges in a rural Alaskan Yup'ik community among youth and young adults. This qualitative study captures a longitudinal perspective as youth (N=25; 11 -18 years old) were originally interviewed in January 2010. For the current study, participants were re-interviewed in December 2012. Follow-up interviews addressed life challenges over the past three years and resources that helped them with their hard times. To reinforce the multifaceted nature of growing-up in a rural Yup'ik community, scholarly literature along with observations, conversations with local residents, and local wisdom captured in anthropological work are featured throughout this paper. Fifteen youth (14 years old - 20 years old) agreed to be re-interviewed. Developmental changes were noted regarding challenges and protective resources. Youth emphasized challenges as sources of vulnerabilities around lack of employment and interpersonal relationship strain. Similar to findings from the original study, interpersonal relationship distress was discussed in three distinct contexts including antagonist "girl drama," family discord, and partner relations conflicts. Youth identified personal strengths such as re-framing challenges, seeking personal space, and family support to overcome challenges. Contemporary understanding of emergent young adults' role and responsibilities in a rural Yup'ik setting warrants further study as it was found to be a source of vulnerability. Findings can inform clinical and prevention work in the community. For example, targeted community activities can address reported challenges including job fairs and workshops on healthy relationships with specificity to the experience of becoming an adult in rural Alaska

Delivering a Graduate Information Systems Course in France: Observations, Experiences, and Professional Development Opportunities

This essay describes an international graduate business education experience involving a US and a French university in which a graduate course in information systems was prepared and delivered. In addition to describing the overall experience, several problematic issues and challenges are identified and discussed. Special emphasis is placed on three areas of differences, communications, technology, and culture. Areas in which faculty growth and development occurred also are identified and discussed. Awareness of these differences and opportunities, their impact on course and professional conduct, and possible actions and outcomes may be useful to other educators and academic administrators interested in developing and/or operating a similar program internationally

Come On Ugzruk, Let Me Win: Experience, Relationality, And Knowing In Kigiqtaamiut Hunting And Ethnography

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010This ethnography of marine mammal hunting explores linkages between personal experiences and shared understandings of ecological phenomena among a group of Kigiqtaamiut hunters in Shishmaref, Alaska. Specifically it examines the relationships between Kigiqtaamiut hunters' experiences in the world and means by which the experienced world is brought into being through hunters' ways knowing. This work is informed by three spring hunting seasons spent as a member of a familial marine mammal hunting crew and over 20 months of fieldwork. It addresses hunters' ways of learning, knowing and directly experiencing the reality of the phenomenal world. Exploring a multiplicity of modes and facets of experience connected to the relationships between hunters' processual way of knowing bearded seals (Eringathus barbatus) through an experiential ethnographic investigation, I empirically examine the practices of hunting and the ethnography of hunting as linked, reflexive, and ultimately inseparable processes of coming to know. Considering the plausibility that a more rigorous presentation of a way of knowing can be realized through highlighting the reflexive and experiential interactions that shape these two concurrent phenomenological inquiries, this work suggests an "ethnography of knowing" to engage these multiple-linked processes of knowledge construction. It is suggested that separating hunters' ways of being and knowing misconstrues the depth and complexity of local knowledge as actualized in pragmatic decision-making processes in context of hunting. By examining Kigiqtaamiut/bearded seal relations, the set of hunting practices that most significantly shape the hunting mode of being in Shishmaref are explored. Collapsed into this ethnographic and phenomenological analysis of human/bearded seal ecology are the connections between hunters' ways of knowing, local pedagogy, the structure and usage of hunting narratives and topical lexicon to convey information and the significance of place and local histories. Analysis of these intersecting and mutually informative themes highlights how hunters' means of learning and knowing as a continuous process of experience both shape and are shaped by socioculturally mediated experiences with natural phenomena. This work speaks to dimensions of hunters' ways of knowing both manifest in and shaping lived experiences. In doing so, this work furthers regional ethnography, the anthropology of knowledge studies, human environmental relations and understandings of the human condition of being-in-the-world

Health Aspects of Native American Indians and Alaskan Natives

This thesis will focus on the decline in health of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives in regards to chronic diseases due to changes in their food habits, customs, traditions, and culture. The purpose of this study is to explore why Native Americans and Alaskans health has deteriorated in relation to diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and alcoholism. Limitation in access to health care facilities includes geographic location, cul tural, and linguistic barriers. The studies to be discussed include: the Inter-Tribal Heart Project (ITHP) for cardiovascular disease; the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for self-reported risk factors; and the Navajo Health and Nutrition Survey (NHNS) for chronic diseases associated with nutritional findings. Results of the analysis of these surveys produced considerable evidence to suggest that the hypothesis be accepted and conclude that, the movement away from traditional lifestyles, customs, and eating patterns has exacerbated a decline in their health

The Culture of College Wilderness Adventure Clubs: Exploring Leadership, Language, and Gender

College is a time in many young adults’ lives when they are challenging their previous beliefs, learning new norms, and trying different activities. Once on campus, students are able to choose to participate in various clubs. At the University of Vermont (UVM), outdoor clubs are especially popular, but the culture of these types of groups has not been studied very extensively. In this study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, I examine the culture -- the goals, norms, and language -- of the clubs and how club membership is experienced by the member leaders. These clubs constitute a contested site as they bring together a traditionally male-dominated activity -- risk-taking adventure in the outdoors -- with a group of youth poised to challenge traditional gender norms and expectations. This thesis presents a sociological analysis of the culture of two outdoor clubs, the Outing Club and Kayak Club, on the University of Vermont campus, with a specific focus on three elements of the clubs: leadership, language, and gender