Shaktoolik, Alaska: Proposed Study on Local Knowledge of Sea Ice and Weather Conditions and Approaches to Adaptation to Climate/Environmental ChangePart of IPY project 166: Sea Ice Knowledge and Use (SIKU)
Report on the pilot visit, September 2-13, 2007
By Dr. Anja Nicole Stuckenberger, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
The study of Inuit/Iñupiaq cultural knowledge and adaptation to climate/environmental change that I envision as my contribution to the SIKU project will take place in two Arctic communities: the Iñupiat village of Shaktoolik in Norton Sound, Alaska (population 180) and the Inuit village of Quaqtaq in Nunavik, Hudson Strait, Canada (population 300). I have already secured permission to conduct this study in Quaqtaq. The main reason for a comparative approach is that by working with two communities that are similar in many respects (size, importance of subsistence economy), but culturally and historically different, helps identify the specifics of local responses to climate change and patterns of adaptation used in different regions. This pilot trip was aimed at building partnership with the Alaskan community of Shaktoolik that has expressed its interest in working with the SIKU project on the documentation of its knowledge of sea ice and weather conditions and conducting systematic observations of environmental change.
My study will dwell upon the foundation built by Dr. Igor Krupnik from the Smithsonian Institution, who has already engaged the community into the SIKU efforts, such as daily observations of sea ice and weather conditions (started in April 2007, to be continued until summer 2008) and the preparation of the local ‘dictionary’ (lexicon) of Iñupiaq terms for types of sea and freshwater ice, snow conditions, and weather phenomena. My study in Shaktoolik will elaborate on the larger cultural context of local observations of climate change and sea ice knowledge by participation in subsistence activities, interviews, and via collaboration with local experts, the school, and the Village Council. I envision publishing results of my study in the format to be useable for the Shaktoolik school and in collaboration with the school Iñupiaq language and cultural program, as well as in scientific publications.
My activities during the pilot visit in September 2007
Thanks to Igor’s mediation, I received a letter of invitation to visit Shaktoolik and to present my project to the elders and community members signed by Simon Bekoalok, Jr., the President of the Native Village of Shaktoolik. The main purpose of my first brief visit was to introduce myself to the community and to discuss our proposed plan of actions with the community members, so that I may adjust the research focus and methodology, according to the local situation, local needs and perspectives. Shaktoolik is a small, tightly-knit community, with a rich history and impressive body of detailed knowledge about local environment and about the changes that are happening on people’s daily watch. It is also a very friendly place where people are eager to collaborate with scientists, in order to put their village —as Simon Bekoalok said repeatedly—‘on the map of today’s studies of climate change.’
During this first visit to Shaktoolik I conducted interviews and formal conversations with several elders: Mary Katchatag, Clara Sookiayak, Clara Mae Sagoonick, Franklin Paniptchuk Sr., Ernie Sagoonick, Dan Savetelik, Dinah Sagoonick, Mabel Takak, William & Mabel Takak also with the Village President, Simon Bekoalok, Myron Savetelik, Linda Goldeski (school principal), Jake Doth (school science teacher). Everyone I spoke to was very enthusiastic about the sea ice and other local environmental knowledge documentation work.
The IRA Council organized an elders’ meeting at the village school on September 8, 2007 to get elders familiarized with the proposed study. This meeting was attended by Ernie, Clara, Dinah, Mary, Mabel, as well as school teachers, also by Simon Bekoalok, and Myron. Simon and Myron helped organized some field trips for me to various old sites and to the old village of Shaktoolik. I also attended church services both at the Covenant Church and the Assembly of God. During my 11-day stay, I spoke with various community members on daily issues, work, opinions, etc.
What I learned in Shaktoolik
The community was very welcoming, supportive, and open. I was offered plenty of Native food and had many doors opened to me on a very short notice. I learned a lot about the history of the community; about various seasonal activities, past and present; about patterns of weather prediction, sea ice conditions, animal behavior, berries and greens, changes in the environment, and the relevance of religious beliefs in daily life. There is a great concern among elders and within the community, in general, about the loss of knowledge and traditional values among the younger generation. Shaktoolik, to me, seems to be a northern town with a very particular cultural tradition, and that adaptation and seizing opportunities are actually deeply rooted in that local tradition (see, for example, its successive transitions to reindeer herding, commercial fishing, community development during the 19th and 20th centuries).
It is within this field of social change and continuity that issues of climate and general environmental change are relevant and being actively discussed in Shaktoolik. I found that local discourses on environmental change are rarely abstract, but are always closely connected to the activities people are engaged in, like commercial or subsistence fishing, story telling, thinking about the past, administration and leadership, etc. – very much like local people are addressing these issues in other parts of the Arctic that I am familiar with through my earlier research (Stuckenberger 2005). This ‘practical’ perspective of the residents of Shaktoolik is obviously framing their interest in the SIKU project and in other efforts in the documentation of traditional ecological knowledge for the sake of future generations.
Plans for further research efforts
Fields that I would like to address during my more detailed study will include more specific information on people’s subsistence activities; the ways subsistence knowledge has been learned by elders and is being transmitted today; what knowledge people like to share on weather, seasons, sea ice, land, and animals; the effects of climate change that people observe locally. The study will also include extensive documentation of the local Iñupiaq terms related to the environment. I will try to include younger people as much as possible in the traditional knowledge components of this study, for example by training them as research assistants.
From their side, the people of Shaktoolik are very excited about establishing links with residents of Quaqtaq in Nunavik, Canada. The community of Quaqtaq has also expressed its interest in exchange of knowledge on climate change and subsistence activities with their Iñupiaq partners in Alaska. Such collaboration may be established at different levels, such as between the two village schools, among elders, and other interest groups.
The people of Shaktoolik are also keenly aware that the project will help link them to the larger scientific community, including sea ice and other environmental researchers, anthropologists, linguists, educational, heritage and museum specialists (see Stuckenberger 2007). Helpful partnerships can be built that the community can use in its future planning and in addressing many practical issues associated with climate change.
References:
Stuckenberger, Nicole. 2005. Community at Play: Social and Religious Dynamics in the Modern Inuit Community of Qikiktarjuaq. Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers.
Stuckenberger, Nicole, comp. 2007. Thin Ice: Inuit Traditions within a Changing Environment. Exhibit catalog. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.
The pilot study was made possible by the Claire Garber Goodman Fund.