Shifting Stories, Changing Places: Being Caribou and Narratives of Transformational Climate Change in Northwestern North America

In April of 2003, Leanne Allison and Karsten Heuer set out on skis, from north of the Gwich’in village of Old Crow in the Canadian Arctic, to follow the Porcupine caribou herd on its annual migration. The goal of their expedition was to tell the story of the caribou, so that policy makers and ordinary people would understand the importance of protecting their calving grounds, which President George W. Bush had vowed to open to oil and gas leasing. This dissertation traces the Being Caribou expedition story, as told through the Being Caribou film, book, children’s book, website, blog posts, slideshows, and speaking presentations, to analyse its impact in promoting calving grounds protection. The research builds upon established forms of film and media analysis by situating the Being Caribou stories within a thousands of years long relationship between caribou and Gwich’in and Inuvialuit people. Taking this long view brings forward the vital role of northern indigenous communities in shaping all aspects of the Being Caribou journey, from the parks and protected areas Allison and Heuer passed through, to the tenor of the expedition’s media products and outreach. In the 2004-6 period, the Being Caribou film was systematically used by the Alaska Coalition to build participation and leadership in a broad-based movement to influence crucial Congressional votes on the fate of the Arctic Refuge calving grounds. Through an analysis that combines film and participatory culture research frames with insights from civic engagement literature, this dissertation demonstrates how the storywork of Being Caribou house party and community screenings not only educated individuals about the calving grounds, but moved individuals up an “activist ladder” (Hahn, 2014) of social movement participation. Hundreds of thousands of North Americans who attended Arctic Action Day Being Caribou screenings wrote letters, signed petitions, attended demonstrations, met with their elected officials, and otherwise took leadership to oppose development within the Arctic Refuge. Over time, the Being Caribou film, books, blog posts, slideshows and speaking presentations helped to challenge the dominant values of North American petroculture, growing an ‘ecology of story’ in which the caribou, and their calving grounds, have flourished

Weathering Changes: Cultivating Local and Traditional Knowledge of Environmental Change in Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Traditional Territory

This paper explores a particular experience of cultural bridging between the Heritage Department of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in (TH) First Nation and academics and government funders taking part in the 2007–09 International Polar Year. The TH Heritage Department acted as lead researcher on the project entitled Documenting Traditional Knowledge in Relation to Climate Change. TH Heritage staff spearheaded and largely carried out the project work. Academic researchers, acting as contractors, collaborated in some project activities and produced academic papers summarizing the work. This collaboration provided a rare opportunity for the TH Heritage Department to share the research it has conducted for more than a decade in the broader, institutional context of university and government research. Its success highlights the fact that relationships between these partners are evolving and becoming more equitable: First Nations research is receiving more support, and the corpus of mainstream knowledge is changing, allowing different bodies of work to “count” as knowledge. This paper analyzes some of the differences between TH Heritage approaches to its mandate for gathering and sharing Traditional Knowledge (TK) and the understandings and uses of TK by other governments and by university-based academics. On the basis of project results and recent policy developments in northern governance and research, it makes practical recommendations for reconciling knowledge approaches and building mutually supportive research relationships between First Nations, academics, and government.Le présent article porte sur une expérience particulière relativement à l’établissement de liens entre le département du patrimoine de la Première Nation des Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in (TH) et certains universitaires et bailleurs de fonds gouvernementaux qui ont participé à l’Année polaire internationale de 2007-2009. Le département du patrimoine de la Première Nation des TH a servi de chercheur principal dans le cadre du projet intitulé Documenting Traditional Knowledge in Relation to Climate Change. Le personnel du département du patrimoine a dirigé et effectué une grande partie du projet. Pour leur part, les chercheurs universitaires ont collaboré au projet à titre d’entrepreneurs à contrat, après quoi ils ont produit des articles pour résumer leur travail. Cette collaboration a procuré une rare occasion au département du patrimoine de la Première Nation des TH de faire part du fruit des recherches réalisées pendant plus d’une dizaine d’années dans le contexte institu­tionnel plus vaste de la recherche universitaire et gouvernementale. Le succès remporté par les recherches fait ressortir le fait que les relations entre ces partenaires évoluent et deviennent plus équitables. Ainsi, les recherches effectuées par les Premières nations reçoivent une plus grande reconnaissance, tandis que le corpus de connaissances grand public est en train de changer en ce sens qu’il permet à différents ensembles de connaissances de « compter » au nombre des connaissances. Cet article analyse certaines des différences qui existent entre la méthode adoptée par le département du patrimoine de la Première nation des TH en ce qui a trait à son mandat visant à recueillir et à partager les connaissances traditionnelles (CT) et les entendements et utilisations des connaissances traditionnelles par d’autres gouvernements et par les universitaires. À la lumière des résultats du projet et des récents développements sur le plan des politiques en matière de gouvernance et de recherche dans le Nord, l’article présente des recommandations pratiques en vue de la réconciliation des méthodes de recueil des connaissances et de l’établissement de relations de soutien mutuel entre les Premières Nations, les universitaires et les gouvernements

Sensate sovereignty : A dialogue on Dylan Robinson's hungry lIstening

Dylan Robinson's Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies emerges from encounters between Indigenous sound performance and Western art music. The book takes aim at the pernicious tendency for the latter to insist upon aesthetic assimilation as the end-goal of these encounters, which far too often means derogating the former’s ontologies and protocols of song. In this dialogue-review, members from the The Culture and Technology Discussion and Working Group (The CATDAWG) situate the book within sound studies and critiques of settler colonial listening, reflecting on the major conceptual contributions of the book such as sensate sovereignty, hungry listening, and critical listening positionality