Knowledge-land-scape - User contributions [en]

Voices of Thunder

2025-08-16T15:26:58Z

Saskia: /* Joining the BearWatch Project */

<small>Estimated time to follow this cut without detours: 20 minutes (excluding 20 minutes animated graphic documentary.)</small>

''"We want our “Voices of Thunder” to echo everywhere. We want everyone to know what happened to us. We seek acknowledgment and apologies for suffering the consequences of the quota regulations; a loss of culture and knowledge, as well as increased danger due to the rising number of polar bears around our communities. Inuit knowledge in terms of accuracy and inherent value needs to be recognized and better acknowledged. We want better integration of Inuit knowledge in survey research, like for example accounting for seasonal changes. Scientific monitoring surveys have limitations, we ask that researchers will recognize and take Inuit observations more seriously".''

Gjoa Haven HTA (2021)

=Uqshuqtuuq (Gjoa Haven)=

This is a view across Uqshuqtuuq (Gjoa Haven), Nunavut. Most of the events along this cut take place in this community.

[[File:GjoaHaven2021Aug25_1_1.mp4|border|centre|600px|Uqshuqtuuq (Gjoa Haven) filmed by Peiwen Li (2021)]]

Uqshuqtuuq is pronounciated: [uq.suq.tuːq], meaning "lots of fat" in Inuktitut (the language spoken by Inuit), referring to an abundance of marine animals like seals. Its English name, "Gjoa Haven" is pronounced : [Joe.ha.ven] and was given by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen during his expedition to find the Northwest passage. Gjoa Haven was named after his wooden ship "Gjoa". It is the only hamlet on King William Island, located in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, Canada. Its current population is estimated around 1400 people.

My name is Saskia de Wildt, and I visited Gjoa Haven for the first time in 2021- during the second year of my PhD research.

By then, however, I already knew quite a bit about the history of polar bear hunting restriction in Gjoa Haven.

<div class="next_choice">'''"Keep Going"''' to read what I had learnt before I ever came to the community.

Or,

Take a '''"Detour"''' to read an abstract of this cut</div>

<span class="detour link" data-page-title="Cut 1 Abstract" data-section-id="0" data-encounter-type="detour">[[Cut 1 Abstract|Detour: Abstract]]</span>

=Inuit and Polar Bears=

Polar bears and humans share an important relationship in Inuit culture.

Within Inuit ways of knowing and being, polar bears are to be respected as powerful predators, and appreciated for being a source of sustenance.

In Canada, Inuit have a right to hunt polar bears. Such hunting takes place under "harvesting quota" regulations, and are managed per Polar Bear Management Unit (PBMU). Hunters from Gjoa Haven, Cambridge Bay and Taloyoak share the M’Clintock Channel (MC) PBMU.

[[File:(color) Figure 1 Map of the MC PBMU..jpg|thumb|500px|Fgure 1: Map of the M’Clintock Channel Polar Bear Management Unit area (Vongraven and Peacock, 2011). Adapted with permission to include the locations of Gjoa Haven, Cambridge Bay and Taloyoak, who each hunt within this area.]]

=Polar Bear Quota Reductions=

At the start of this century, however, polar bears seemed to be declining in numbers, and the hunting quota in the MC PBMU was severely reduced.

Between 2001 and 2004 the MC PBMU was subjected to a three-year polar bear moratorium (a full suspension of hunting).

And in 2005 Gjoa Haven and Cambridge Bay signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU<ref>Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (2005, 8 March) Polar Bear Management Memorandum of Understanding for the management of the ‘M’Clintock Channel’ polar bear population. [Memorandum of Understanding]. Cambridge Bay</ref>) with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) for alternating quotas of one and two tags per year until 2015, while Taloyoak did not receive any tags from the MC management unit between 2001 and 2015.

<small><references /></small>

=Impacts for Gjoa Haven=

Both Taloyoak and Cambridge Bay- unlike the residents of Gjoa Haven- however, also have traditional hunting grounds outside of the MC PBMU. So, when the quota was so drastically reduced, the community of Gjoa Haven was disproportionately impacted.

No other community in Nunavut or the Northwest Territories has experienced such a (near) moratorium over such an extended period of time.

[[File:Signing MoU (drawing by Danny Aaluk, 2021).png|thumb|Signing the MoU (illustration by Danny Aaluk, 2021)]]

=Seeking Recognition=

After two generations of hardly being able to hunt polar bears, the Gjoa Haven hunters and Trappers Association have asked the researchers of the BearWatch project to help them gain recognition for the impacts such quota-decisions have had in terms of lost income, loss of culture, and loss of intergenerational knowledge transfer.

<div class="next_choice"> Notice, that you have stumbled upon a Vista. This Vista is a viewpoint, it will help you orient. This one is called "The Ethical Space of Engagement".

'''"Check out the Vista"'''

Or,

'''"Keep Going"''' to learn more about my PhD research in the BearWatch project, sought to assist in sharing the impacts of these quota reductions across multiple audiences.
</div>

<span class="pop-up vista link" data-page-title="Ethical_Space_of_Engagement">[[Ethical Space of Engagement|Vista: The Ethical Space of Engagement]]</span>

=Joining the BearWatch Project=

My PhD research is part of a larger project: ‘Bearwatch: Monitoring Impacts of Arctic Climate Change using Polar Bears, Genomics and Traditional Ecological Knowledge’.

In the summer of 2019, just before I joined the project in the fall, two workshops were co-organized to discuss and document community testimonies on the multiple impacts of the polar bear quota reductions on Gjoa Haven hunters and other community members.

The recordings of these workshops and its accompanying notes were transferred to me in 2020. I was requested to translate Gjoa Haven’s experiences into an academic publication, as to share them with a larger academic audience.

This "assignment" made me feel uneasy however;

'''"Who was I to convey the lived experiences of people who I had never even met, and provide context to a situation that I had no connection to?"'''

<div class="next_choice"> What would you do?

The most straightforward solution to these questions seems to be to organize a call with the Gjoa Haven HTA, and have a conversation about what they expect from such a publication. The Principle Investigators of the project are supportive and are willing to organize such a meeting.

'''"Keep going"''' to find out what happens after setting-up this call.

Or,

First gather more information on the workshops that were conducted in 2019. '''"Detour to Cut 3".'''

Or,

'''"Stay with the Trouble"''', to explore some of the complexities underlying such a project.
</div>

<span class="pop-up stay-with-the-trouble link" data-page-title=" Politics_of_Recognition " data-encounter-type="Stay-with-the-trouble">[[Politics of Recognition|Stay with the trouble: The Politics of Recognition]]</span>

<span class="detour to-cut-3 link" data-page-title="Wayfaring the BearWatch Project" data-section-id="10" data-encounter-type="detour">[[Wayfaring the BearWatch Project#Going on the Record|Detour to Cut 3: Workshops Summer 2019]]</span>

=Ongoing Conversations=

With support of my supervisors a special meeting with the Gjoa Haven HTA was organized to discuss how they wanted their testimonies to be shared. A total of five separate meetings took place between the Gjoa Haven HTA, myself, and three BearWatch PI’s In 2020 and 2021 - each lasting about three hours.

Among multiple other insights, this led to a clear articulation of the main objectives of Gjoa Haven HTA representatives for publishing their experiences;

[[File:Gjoa Haven's Appeal.mp3|thumb]]

We realized that additional avenues of knowledge creation were needed in parallel to academic publishing, if we were to pursue such a broad spectrum of recognition.

<div class="next_choice">You have run into an '''"Ice-Pressure Ridge"'''.

It's 2020 and we are in the middle of a Covid-pandemic.

Feel your way across the Ice-Pressure Ridge to understand how this work with the Gjoa Haven HTA was subjected to conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic.</div>

<span class="redirective ice-pressure_ridge link" data-page-title=" Covid 19 Personal Whereabouts " data-section-id="0" data-encounter-type="ice-pressure_ridge">[[Covid 19 Personal Whereabouts|Ice-pressure ridge: Covid 19 Personal Whereabouts]]</span>

Politics of Recognition

2025-08-16T15:24:50Z

Saskia:

[[File:Great white beast small.png|thumb]]

You have encountered a “Great White Beast”, a fleeting, shapeshifting figure that performs the world as indeterminate. The possibilities of encountering a Great White Beast is a reminder that there are no right decisions to be made, but that we are nevertheless to hold ourselves accountable to our own choices.

The Gjoa Haven HTA seeks recognition for the impacts that their community has suffered from the impacts of polar bear harvest quota reductions, and one of the ways in which they expect to gain such recognition is through the publication of an academic article.

But what does it mean for scientists to generate “recognition” through academic publishing, if they are themselves part of those institutional hegemonies that not only enabled to bestow, or withhold, such recognition - but have also co-effected the impacts that recognition is sought out for.

Glen Coulthard, referring to such contradictions, critiques ‘recognition’ as a promise ‘to reproduce the very configurations of colonial power that Indigenous demands for recognition have historically sought to transcend’<ref>Coulthard, G. S. (2007 p.437). Subjects of empire: Indigenous peoples and the ‘politics of recognition’in Canada. Contemporary political theory, 6, 437-460.</ref>

'''You seek to be responsive towards Gjoa Haven’s needs, while you also want to acknowledge the tensions that are connected to collaborating with Gjoa Haven’s HTA towards recognition. You can't "just" keep going here - whatever move you make in response to Gjoa Haven's appael entails a decision for which you hold accountability. So, what shall you do?'''

<div class="next_choice">

'''"Do nothing"'''. You do not want to be complicit.

Or,

'''"Lean into such tensions"'''. (Re)negotiate your position as an implicated subject and find responsive approaches to engage with Gjoa Haven’s experiences.

Go check out a nearby '''"Wrecksite"''' to find out more about the larger science-based conservation apparatus that the BearWatch project, and by extent, our actions are entangled with.</div>

<small><references /></small>
<span class="detour link" data-page-title="Do Nothing" data-section-id="0" data-encounter-type="detour">[[Do Nothing|Detour: Do Nothing]]</span>

<span class="pop-up wrecksite link" data-page-title="Science based Conservation" data-section-id="0" data-encounter-type="wrecksite">[[Science based Conservation|Wrecksite: Science-based Conservation]]</span>

Politics of Recognition

2025-08-16T15:23:22Z

Saskia:

[[File:Great white beast small.png|thumb]]

You have encountered a “Great White Beast”, a fleeting, shapeshifting figure that performs the world as indeterminate. The possibilities of encountering a Great White Beast is a reminder that there are no right decisions to be made, but that we are nevertheless to hold ourselves accountable to our own choices.

The Gjoa Haven HTA seeks recognition for the impacts that their community has suffered from the impacts of polar bear harvest quota reductions, and one of the ways in which they expect to gain such recognition is through the publication of an academic article.

But what does it mean for scientists to generate “recognition” through academic publishing, if they are themselves part of those institutional hegemonies that not only enabled to bestow, or withhold, such recognition - but have also co-effected the impacts that recognition is sought out for.

Glen Coulthard, referring to such contradictions, critiques ‘recognition’ as a promise ‘to reproduce the very configurations of colonial power that Indigenous demands for recognition have historically sought to transcend’<ref>Coulthard, G. S. (2007 p.437). Subjects of empire: Indigenous peoples and the ‘politics of recognition’in Canada. Contemporary political theory, 6, 437-460.</ref>

'''You seek to be responsive towards Gjoa Haven’s needs, while you also want to acknowledge the tensions that are connected to collaborating with Gjoa Haven’s HTA towards recognition. You can't "just" keep going here - whatever move you make in response to Gjoa Haven's appael entails a decision for which you hold accountability. So, what shall you do?'''

<div class="next_choice">

'''"Do nothing"'''. You do not want to be complicit.

Or,

Lean into such tensions, (re)negotiate your position as an implicated subject and find responsive approaches to engage with Gjoa Haven’s experiences.

Go check out a nearby '''"Wrecksite"''' to find out more about the larger science-based conservation apparatus that the BearWatch project, and by extent, our actions are entangled with.</div>

<small><references /></small>
<span class="detour link" data-page-title="Do Nothing" data-section-id="0" data-encounter-type="detour">[[Do Nothing|Detour: Do Nothing]]</span>

<span class="pop-up wrecksite link" data-page-title="Science based Conservation" data-section-id="0" data-encounter-type="wrecksite">[[Science based Conservation|Wrecksite: Science-based Conservation]]</span>

Knowledge Co-production

2025-08-16T15:18:49Z

Saskia:

[[File:The wrecksite.png|thumb]]
You have found a "Wrecksite".

This one allows you to think with the im/possibilities of knowledge (co-)production, through the collection of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in polar bear monitoring and co-management.

In scientific wildlife co-management and research the properties of ‘science’ are mostly understood in terms of western natural sciences and as represented through data <ref>Brook, R. (2005). On using expert-based science to “test” local ecological knowledge. Ecology and Society : a Journal of Integrative Science for Resilience and Sustainability., 10(2). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-01478-1002r03</ref><ref>Smylie, J., Olding, M., & Ziegler, C. (2014). Sharing what we know about living a good life: Indigenous approaches to knowledge translation. The Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association, 35, 16.</ref>. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) often finds itself related to such sciences, by being reduced to a data set itself - sometimes refered to as TEK.

James Qitsualik, Gjoa Haven HTA vice-chair had the following to say about TEK-interviews conducted as part of polar bear monitoring surveys:

''"A lot of the time they [scientist] already know what they want to know. A lot of the time they just need to know the locations. 'Can you tell me where the den-sites are?"<ref>James Qitsualik, interview, 2022</ref>"''

That doesn't make TEK interviews essentially useless or unethical. Like "Wrecksites" in this Knowledge-Land-Scape, TEK interviews emerged in our conversation as sites of multiplicity and opportunity.

''"These interviews with the elders are very important, because now, some of them have passed.''
''"I have also learnt a lot through these [TEK] workshops. I have learnt that Inuit used to hunt polar bears from within their den. It's where they - inexperienced hunters - felt safer. Experienced hunters would hunt them anywhere."<ref>James Qitsualik, interview, 2022</ref>''

<div class="next_choice"> '''"Return"''' to the BearWatch project.

<small><references /></small>

<span class="return to-cut-3 link" data-page-title="Wayfaring the BearWatch Project" data-section-id="9" data-encounter-type="return">[[Wayfaring the BearWatch Project#Workshops Summer 2019|Return to Cut 3: Workshops Summer 2019]]

Saskia:

Concept sketch Mx. Science in research diary (de Wildt, 2022)