Environmental Stewardship, Hunting, and Community Gardening in Inuit Nunangat: Its Educational Implications for Ecological Care

• In Event: Caring for Social-Ecological Systems through Science, Engineering, and Environmental Education: Models, Tensions, Affordances
  In Structured Poster Session: Caring for Social-Ecological Systems Through Science, Engineering, and Environmental Education: Models, Tensions, Affordances

Abstract

Purpose: While environmental dispossession next to climate change have compromised health and well-being of Inuit, we show how practices and activities driven by self-determination are part of “the politico-cultural process of revitalizing of Indigenous knowledge and ways of life and reclaiming of ancestral spaces towards improved well-being” (Robertson & Ljubici, 2019). Embedded in such work is a deep sense of care for the land and the building of relationships between generations, people, mind, body, spirit and the land (Alfred, 2009) - or what Ferrara (2015) refers to as “empathic scientific research” (p. 128). We offer one vision of how we can go about teaching the next generation about “the importance of the good stewardship left to us by the ancestors” (Kalluak, 2017, p. 57).

Method & Data: We draw on ethnographic data collected since 2014, with key allies in the community of Arviat, Nunavut (fieldnotes, journal notes, interviews, video footage & community events). We describe the evolution of the programs from Environmental Stewardship and the Young Hunters Program to the Greenhouse Project, and show how they support emotional well-being and agency of Inuit youth as future stewards of the land through stories that we co-constructed, guided by indigenous research methods (Wilson, 2008).

Results: A concern for food security and lack of intergenerational dialogue raised by the elders of Arviat, led to the development of the Young Hunters and Environmental Monitoring Programs. Changes in temperatures due to climate change were taken advantage of, leading to the construction of a greenhouse and experimentation with the growth of food. Being on the land was central to all programs, as noted by the director, “no matter what you go through, if you feel like you are having a hard time or you can’t think clearly, go out on the land and the land will renew you and rejuvenate you, and you’ll be able to start to think clearly and work through whatever problem you are going through.” Self-governance of the programs was also crucial, as one of the Inuk instructors shared, “it’s not led by just somebody from the South, trying to find answers, it’s for the benefit of the community, based on people from the community, so it’s a great feeling, it’s ours!” The programs are important complementary spaces to schooling which is still steeped in Western STEM education. The programs afford Inuit youth, instructors and others who are involved, a unique opportunity to build relationships and navigate among epistemologies in empowering ways and “enable somebody to become a good person, living a good life, who’s able to contribute to improve the common good” (Interview, 2016).

Scientific implications: “To think holistically is to be in respectful relationship with all that is around you” (Tagalik, 2015, p. 31). As shown, it is an epistemology that enriches our work for a de-colonial ethic of care of the environment and each other and has important implications for environmental and STEM education. It implies a political-health discourse tied to self-determination and repossession of the land.

Authors

• Shirley Tagalik, Aqqiumavvik Society

• Kukik Baker

• Jrene Rahm, University of Montreal