Entering Into Relationship
To "enter into into relationship" in an Inuit context, means to partake in the reciprocal customs of gifting and sharing, and allowing yourself to be transformed by those processes (Martin, 2016).
The filming of Kathy and Janet throatsinging, of Percy and Aldina drumdancing on the tundra, and Holle, Angeline and Mary singing the Pihhiq, was more part of such "entering into relationship", that it was about collecting data about traditional songs and dance, and the knowledge that is embedded within them. Although the potentials for knowledge renewal between generations were obvious once engaged in the practices and processes of filmmaking, this seemed to have less to do with the film making, or even the particular activity that we were filming, than with the fact that these activities allowed us to come together and create something.
Although, I was provided months later after I returned to share initial edits, with a line-by-line rough interpretation of the Pihhiq, it already was clear to me that as a non-Inuit researcher I would not be able to fully grasp the extent of cultural significance that these aesthetic actions embody. What I could do, however, as a community-based researcher with a professional background in film was engage with these practices by way of film-making. As each person brought their own knowledge, skills, and practices to the process of doing so, the shooting of these video provided for a space to encounter each other on our own terms.
Moreover, the process of filmmaking, storyboarding, recording voice-overs, co-facilitating storytelling workshops and undertaking many other activities- both central, and tangentially related to film-making- in the community, had given me an possibility to enter into relationship with multiple community members that I would have otherwise likely not have met. Many of the people I worked with, elders and women, fell outside of the usual network of people that were engaged within BearWatch in the past.
Return to Cut 2: "Co-creating the Animated Graphic Documentary"