Collage and Zine-Making

After tracing along the BearWatch project for about two years, visiting Gjoa Haven twice and Coral Harbour three times, I had substantial notes, recordings, observations and literature to conduct an explorative exercise of meaning-making with.

I decided to employ the creative method of collaging to see if any emergent themes, new connections and relationships would reveal themselves.

Zine

I ended up converting my collages into a shareable zine.

I printed 60 black and white copies for distribution to project partners and community collaborators, a very small edition of colour copies for personal use.

I also scanned it to make it digitally accessible:

Zine tactile/text/ure by gingertheworld

The collaging and zine-making activity brought into focus new ways of thinking about positionality and the roles and response-ability of westerns cientists.

"Detour" to cut 2 to read more about an artistic intervention I designed based on these new insights.

Or,

"Keep Going" to follow along with the next BearWatch project activities.

Detour to Cut 2: Point of Beginning Mx. Science

Fall 2022 Coral Harbour

The project is coming to an end.

To prepare for the final workshops the project had scheduled 10 days for me in Coral Harbour and 14 days in Gjoa Haven.

Part of this trip was meant to set up a relationship with the school, as per the original terms of collaboration between Coral Harbour and the BearWatch project.

"Detour", straight to the final workshop in Coral Harbour.

Or,

"Keep Going" to learn about my visits to the school in Coral Harbour

Detour to Cut 2:Coral Harbour Workshop

School Visits

I was invited by the teacher who I had met during my previous visits (Lisa Marie Thomas) to spent three consecutive days in her grade 4 class.

During those days, I introduced myself, got to know the students and shared information about my homecountry; the Netherlands.

BearWatch co-PI Peter van Coeverden de Groot joined for the 3rd day and taught a short lesson on polar bear monitoring.

This third day was also used to pilot a "persona" I intended to introduce at the final workshops; A more-than-human, playful fictional character called Mx. Science.

This pilot, was conducted with permission of the teacher and the school principle, and was taken up with overwhelming positivity by both the kids, teachers and principle.

The pre-gathering activities with the school principal and teacher led to inclusion of sessions within the final workshop design for school participants only. included Qamutik building and science-based bingo and presentations.

Detour to Cut 2 to learn more about Mx. science, or "Keep Going"

Detour: "Nukatuqag" - "Mx. Science"

Wayfaring Calendar Pilot

Although Leonard was not much available in the 10 days that were meant to prepare the final workshops, he did connect me to three experienced hunters of the community to conduct a participatory mapping exercise, that would feed into the development of a wayfaring method towards knowledge conciliation.

We collaborated on developing a pilot interview guide that engages IQ through a focus on process, values, and land-based ways of doing/being, rather than outcomes or measurable data. The resulting interview guide focusses on understanding the land-based practice of navigating main routes and tracks across Southampton island.

We selected a specific route towards ‘Qakutaap’ to conduct pilot interviews. Four interviews were conducted with experienced hunters and skilled navigators (Jonathan Emiltowik - Innuapik Ell - Harry Gibbons – Leonard Netser) in the week between 24 and 28 october, 2022.

The information that was shared was processed by Saskia into a paper prototype of a seasonal calendar which could potentially be further developed into a future communicative/planning tool for Southampton Island residents and Southern researchers seeking community-based collaborations on polar bear monitoring.

Image calendar prototype

Another Point of Beginning; Wayfaring Method

You have reached "Another Point of Beginning". These are not conclusive endings to my research, but rather perform at the cusp of emergence: They are a story so-far. Some of these points mark the end of funding cycles or project activities. Or they mark the limitations and scope of this particular PhD dissertation. Others are trails, and tracks that have faded out, as they remained un-revisited. They however always mark one moment along an ongoing animate line of correspondence between multiple agencies, and they usually allow for continuing with another cut.

This is where we take account for our journey so far. This journey is always partial, and so are the insights we have built on our way. You can trace the path you have taken through this Knowledge-Land-Scape by clicking the "trace" bar in the upper left corner of your screen. It will allow you to account for some of the insights that your journey has given you. The map below shows you the full extent of wayfaring possibilities of the scape.

As you might see, it looks like cut 3: Wayfaring the BearWatch project, has several ongoing tracks. In this case you have reached a story-so-far when it comes to the collaboration between Leonard Netser and the BearWatch project on the CIRNAC grant. While strong relationships might manage to bridge funding cycles, they are also subject to the im/possibilities of the research landscape and it apparatuses. My collaboration with Leonard has resulted in a prototype wayfaring calendar of the Southampton Island route to Qaquutaap, however we haven't been able to work out its potential to contribute to ethical research relationships in a Southampton Island wise polar bear survey. Up until recently our personal correspondence has fallen silent in the context of relational tensions that emerged between Leonard and Queen's University Bearwatch researchers, some of which are eluded upon in Cut 2.

Keep going with Cut 3. Travel to Gjoa Haven to prepare for the final BearWatch workshop there.

Ice-pressure ridge: Arctic Travel