Covid 19 personal whereabouts

When the spread of Covid-19 was declared a pandemic it shaped an ice-pressure ridge that was so immense, that it not so much required me to redirect- as it asked me to re-position. Both figuratively and literally. As such, this pandemic has functioned as a double-edged sword. On the one hand it has caused a significant delay, and obstruction in terms of building community relations in the field. After I was finally able to leave Coral Harbour once the blizzards had ended, it took almost a year and a half before I could return to the North again- and start building relationships in the way that they are built most effectively- in person and on the land.

On the other hand, the delays allowed for more time to think about how to contribute to the BearWatch research project in a way that honours my professional background and ethical values. It also opened pathways to initial remote connections with research partners in Gjoa Haven through communication platforms like zoom and conference calls. Nonetheless, the pandemic has had significant and lasting impacts on the material circumstances under which I continued to work on my PhD. One of the most impactful circumstances have been my personal whereabouts.

Making a new home

In 2019, at the start of my doctoral studies I relocated to Katarokwi; Kingston, Ontario on the traditional homelands of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabek and Huron-Wendat nations. I had never intended this move to Kingston to be only a launch pad for my research in Inuit Nunangat. I arrived ready to commit- aspiring to make Kingston my new home. The first months after my arrival were filled with activities to learn about- and build a relationship with this land, the communities on it, and its stories. I immersed myself, for my hope was that this place could perhaps eventually become a new home for me. Which it did, in multiple ways, over time. The building of these relationships however became somewhat more complicated from 2020 onwards. The COVID-19 pandemic ended up uprooting me from all my home-bases, both Dutch and Canadian.

Netherlands in isolation

After the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, and I was able to catch a flight out of Coral Harbout, I initially chose to take shelter in my country of origin; the Netherlands. I stayed there for three months, after which the first wave of covid-19 had seemed to have passed. Having a high-risk parent, I did not take shelter in my family home in the Netherlands, and as a result I initially had to pay rent apartments both in Kingston and the Netherlands. After the first two months of self-isolating in Amsterdam, I moved in with my sister and her family, where I slept on an airbed and shared a room with my 2-year old nephew. Despite a lack of privacy, it was nice to be close to family. I preferred it above being alone in an apartment.

Selfportrait during lockdown

Nevertheless, my commitment to be present, and make a new home in Canada- combined with the financial stresses of double rent- eventually drew me back to Ontario at the first seemingly reasonable opportunity.

Kingston in isolation

The reality of returning to Canada as an international student, during the Covid-19 pandemic, was- while I acknowledge my privilege of being able to stay safe and healthy- rough for me. Once back in Ontario, I was stuck in my tiny apartment by myself, without a university campus to go to, or access to the regions in which I would have to conduct my fieldwork. I wrote a lot. In the year that followed, between my return to Kingston in the late Summer of 2020 and the Summer of 2021, I worked on what would eventually become the testimonial reading of Gjoa Haven’s voices of Thunder.

By April 2021, I received the news that I was the recipient of a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, and by the end of June 2021 I had to return to the Netherlands for family matters. During this latter trip, I was offered an affordable apartment in Amsterdam- and decided, considering the ongoing uncertainty of Covid-19 pandemic to accept it. One month later, In July 2021, I received the news that we could travel to Nunavut again for fieldwork, and Canada slowly started to open up again.

From July 2021 onward, I continued my PhD in a state of flux. I would come to Canada for fieldwork, and spent an average of six weeks up North each trip. I would then stay, on average, another six weeks in Ontario. Usually I would spend up to twelve weeks back home in the Netherlands, before I would return again to Canada. This rotation was possible because of my decision in September 2020 to purchase a campervan: "Butter". As a result of this purchase, my time in Canada took a completely different shape in comparison to what it had been before.

You are invited to tag along and take a ride in Butter. Alternatively you could (re)turn to Cut 1 and learn more about the testimonial reading of Gjoa Haven's Voices of Thunder.

Return to Voices of Thunder

Invitation: Take a ride with Butter