Twelve Years of Interviews with the Inupiat people of Arctic Alaska: Report from a Community Workshop

Abstract:

On 20 August 2015, a workshop was held in Barrow, Alaska, which presented the highlights of 12 years of research connecting local indigenous knowledge of landscape processes with scientific research on arctic lakes, tundra changes, and permafrost stability. Seventy-six Iñupiat elders, hunters, and other knowledge-holders from the North Slope villages of Barrow, Atqasuk, Wainwright, Nuiqsut, and Anaktuvuk Pass were interviewed, and over 75 hours of videotaped interviews were produced. The interviews provided information and observations on landforms, lakes, erosion, permafrost degradation and thermokarst, changes in the environment and in animal behavior, human modification of lakes, tundra damage from 4-wheel off-road vehicles, tundra trail expansion, and other phenomena. Community concerns regarding the impact of environmental change on food procurement, animal migration, human travel routes, and the future of subsistence practices were also prominent themes. Following an interview, each videotaped session was logged. Each time an elder pointed to a location on a map and explained a landscape event/observation or told a story, the time‐stamp in the video was recorded. Each logged event consisted of a code and a short account of the observation. From these reference sheets, a Geographic Information System (GIS) dataset was created. A logged account for each videotape, with geographic coordinates, event code, and event description is available for each videotape. The goal of the workshop was to report on our findings, thank the community for their support, and collaboratively develop plans for archiving and disseminating this data. A complete video library and searchable, printed and digital issues of the logging dataset for archiving in the communities were also produced. Discussions with administrative personnel at the Tuzzy Library in Barrow and the Inupiat Heritage Center have enabled us to set standards and develop a timeline for turning over the library of videos and GIS data to the North Slope community.