The Iñupiaq “Float Coat” Song: Using Cultural Expression Pedagogy to Solve Pressing Societal Problems

• In Event: Reclaiming Indigenous Knowledge: Decolonial and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies for Language, Art, and Educational Sovereignty

Abstract

Personal floatation device (PFD) use is limited in arctic waters of Alaska resulting in drowning deaths being four times the national average. To address this problem, the Kingikmiut Dancers and Singers of Anchorage wrote the “Float Coat” song, a new Iñupiaq song and dance to promote the use of PFDs. Drawing from decolonial participatory action research and extensive interviews of Iñupiaq Elders, educators, and youth, I reframe arts-based pedagogy into what I term cultural expression pedagogy, using the “Float Coat” song as a model for how cultural expression can be used in education to address pressing societal problems. This research enhances current dialogues around how cultural expression and arts-based educational strategies interact with modern problems by including Indigenous perspectives.

Author

• David E. K. Smith, University of Idaho