The IPinCH Steering Committee is pleased to announce funding for two new community-based initiatives/case studies based in Canada, but exploring issues of global concern.
The first initiative was developed by Daniel Gendron, from the Archaeology Department of Avataq Cultural Institute, working with Taqralik Partridge of Avataq’s Department of Communication and Publication, and Nancy Palliser, Avataq’s Executive Director and Local Cultural Committees Supervisor.
Avataq, an IPinCH partner organization, is the Iniut cultural institute of Nunavik (Northern, Quebec, Canada). According to the institute's website, an avataq is a traditional hunting float made from a complete sealskin, used to keep a hunter's catch afloat or mark a submerged, harpooned sea mammal to locate later.
This research will focus on the development of cultural tourism in Nunavik.
The proposal abstract states, "Cultural tourism has now become the “in” thing in Nunavik." It goes on to relate that, in the early 1990s, the first few attempts at cultural tourism saw little success, but there is now a “business” will to include tourism as a facet of economic development. As recently as April 2010, cultural tourism was a major topic at an economic summit in Kuujjuaq.
The Avataq Cultural Institute has advocated the development of cultural tourism for some time, but Avataq sees a world’s difference between what it envisions as responsible development and certain economic interests’ vision for cultural tourism. This case study aims at identifying the different parties involved and their underlying motivations.
The Avataq Cultural Institute team will work with local communities to answer key questions, including: What part do the Nunavimmiut really play in this development? Are they silent participants or, on the contrary, the driving force behind this development?
One of the aims of the research is to re-centre the meaning of cultural tourism as a means of protecting Inuit culture, possibly in tension with the Quebec government’s “Plan nord” for Northern economic and tourism development.
The second proposal funded by IPinCH is "The Journey Home - Guiding Intangible Knowledge Production in the Analysis of Ancestral Remains." This project was co-developed by David Schaepe, Director of the Stó:lo Research and Resource Management Centre and Susan Rowley, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.
For the Stó:lo, knowing as much as possible about ancestral remains in the process of being repartiated informs their process. How can scientific research address Stó:lo questions and aid this repatriation?
Opportunity recently arose for scientific study, stimulating a dialogue between the Stó:lo and the University of BC Laboratory of Archaeology(LOA), touching on multiple issues of scientific process, knowledge production and intellectual property. What types of anthropological research and scientific analyses can be applied to answer community-based questions? What are the details and cultural implications of analyses — both destructive and non-destructive? Who decides which questions to ask and which means of research to implement? Who interprets the results? Who owns those data? How do ‘scientific’ and ‘cultural’ ways of knowing relate? Who is allowed to share in and benefit from this knowledge? These questions are central to the Stó:lo ’s relationship with both their ancestors and LOA.
This study aims to provide guidelines for generating knowledge within a mutually acceptable framework of authority, control, and use. These critical issues are at the forefront of our conversations as we work together to complete The Journey Home.
