Human Dimensions Of The Arctic System

In 1997, the National Science Foundation (USA) started a project called Human Dimensions of the Arctic System, given the acronym HARC. This initiative was part of the Arctic System Science Program, intended to promote understanding of the processes and feedbacks that involve and shape the physical, biological, and social components of the Arctic. HARC, in turn, was designed to boost research involving those social components, examining ways in which humans affect and are affected by the Arctic system. In a meeting of HARC investigators in 2002, several people suggested compiling a journal issue dedicated to Arctic human dimensions research. This issue [Arctic, v. 57, no. 4] is the result. I am grateful to the authors of the papers for making that idea a reality. On their behalf and mine, I thank the National Science Foundation for funding this issue and the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States for administrative and intellectual support. Arctic human dimensions research neither began nor developed in isolation. Various national and international efforts, such as the International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP), have sponsored, encouraged, and developed a community of researchers for the field. Nonetheless, HARC stands out in three ways: it has a clear geographic focus; it has a strong link to physical and biological research in the same region and program; and researchers have had considerable latitude in determining appropriate subjects and methods for their studies. This collection of papers reflects that diversity, constituting a rough and partial summary of HARC's achievements, plus one paper ... that was not part of HARC but addresses a relevant topic. ... three main conclusions can be drawn. First, the human dimensions of the Arctic system are extensive, complex, and diverse. Second, the study of human dimensions is similarly diverse, innovative, and compelling. Third, the field has matured to the stage that the next major challenge lies in synthesizing the results of many individual studies so that we can discern patterns and paradigms that will further illuminate the various case studies already conducted. If we can maintain the momentum generated by the work to date, the study of human dimensions in the Arctic has a bright future

Observations on Shorefast Ice Dynamics in Arctic Alaska and the Responses of the Iñupiat Hunting Community

Although shorefast sea ice forms a platform that facilitates travel, camping, and hunting by Iñupiat subsistence hunters and fishers in the western Arctic, the nearshore sea-ice zone remains an unforgiving and dynamic environment. Traditional hunters constantly hone site-specific experiences and skills with which to optimize the reward-to-risk ratio inherent in operating from this coastal ice. Nearshore ice conditions nevertheless can change suddenly, endangering even the most experienced subsistence hunters. This study examines two (of several) 20th-century events, 40 years apart, in which shorefast ice failed, threatening Iñupiat whale hunters with loss of confidence, livelihood, and life. These events differed in character. In one event, the shorefast ice was "crushed" by moving ice floes. In the other, the shorefast ice broke free of land. Our examination focuses on the relationship of subsistence hunters to the ice, the environmental causes of ice failures, the evolving technology for predicting ice behavior, and the longer-term implications of global change for this system. The complexity of geophysical processes underlying coastal ice behavior makes ice failures unpredictable. Thus, hunters must assume and manage risk. The variable and uncertain environment to which whale hunters are accustomed has produced an inherent flexibility that has helped them adapt to new conditions and will continue to do so in the future.Bien que la banquise côtière constitue une plate-forme qui permet aux Iñupiat de l'Arctique de l'Ouest de se déplacer et de camper lorsqu'ils pratiquent la chasse et la pêche de subsistance, la zone de banquise proche du littoral reste un milieu dynamique qui ne pardonne pas. Les chasseurs traditionnels améliorent constamment les habiletés et l'expérience reliées à des sites particuliers, qui leur permettent d'optimiser le rapport récompense-risque inhérent au fait de travailler depuis la glace côtière. Les conditions de cette dernière peuvent toutefois changer brusquement, mettant en danger même les chasseurs de subsistance les plus chevronnés. Cette étude se penche sur deux (parmi plusieurs) épisodes survenus au XXe siècle, à 40 ans d'écart, durant lesquels la banquise côtière s'est rompue, ébranlant la confiance des baleiniers Iñupiat et menaçant leur moyen de subsistance ainsi que leur vie. Ces événements étaient de nature différente. Dans l'un, la glace côtière avait été «écrasée» par des floes en dérive. Dans l'autre, la banquise côtière s'était détachée de la terre ferme. Notre étude se concentre sur le rapport entre les chasseurs de subsistance et la glace, les causes environnementales de la fragilisation de la glace, la technologie mise au point actuellement qui permettrait de prédire le comportement de la glace, et les implications à long terme du changement climatique pour ce système. La complexité des processus géophysiques sous-jacents au comportement de la banquise côtière fait que les ruptures de la banquise sont imprévisibles. Les chasseurs doivent donc assumer le risque et le gérer. L'environnement variable et incertain auquel sont accoutumés les chasseurs de baleine leur a donné une souplesse inhérente qui les a aidés à s'adapter à de nouvelles conditions et continuera de le faire dans l'avenir

Whale Hunting in Indigenous Arctic Cultures

Bowhead whaling has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention, from archeology to ethnography to political science. Such research has traced the development and spread of bowhead whaling through the Arctic, the significance of not just the hunt but also the festivals and activities that occur throughout the year, and the battles of whalers to assert their knowledge of the whale and their rights to continue their practices on their own terms. This chapter provides a brief review of the literature on bowhead whaling, and then presents five accounts of Indigenous whaling by Indigenous authors, from two communities in Alaska, one in Chukotka, and one in Nunavut, together with a broader overview of the history of bowhead whaling in Greenland. These accounts, written specifically for this book, demonstrate the vigor of contemporary whaling cultures and the significance that bowhead whaling continues to have for the peoples of Arctic coasts