Claim Failure

The workshop in Coral Harbour could not be conducted in accordance with the principles of ethical engagement, as forwarded by Willie Ermine.

This can not be attributed to individual actions, or to the workshop looking different than the one in Gjoa Haven, or even because we could not collect data at all stages of the workshops.

It was due to the lack of possibilities of co-constituting the gathering together in a meaningful way, before the workshop even took place. The conditions under which the workshop was designed and planned in Coral Harbour had not provided the time and space needed to navigate and negotiate our different needs and values, coming to the workshop.

Although unsuccessful in some terms, the workshop may still be successful in others. For one, claiming failure, can arguably hold value when it comes to exploring what it means to conduct polar bear monitoring research in accordance the principles of ethical engagement. It allows us to acknowledge that not everything is possible. We can not just will an ethical space of engagement into being. Transformative practices are not just up to us as humans, or individuals. They extend across multiple agential cuts, and need to be re-produced over and over again to mark a pattern of change across time.

And even within claiming such failure, there remain opportunities to respond with the world anyways.

Re-visit one of the workshop activities we organized in the school: Qamutiq building

Return to Cut 2: Workshop Coral Harbour