Pitquhivut Ilihaqtaa: Learning about Our Culture

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeology in Inuit Nunangat (northern Canada) has a long and varied history of interactions between Inuit communities and "southern" researchers. This paper is about one long-standing example of a successful relationship between an Inuit organization, the Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq / Kitikmeot Heritage Society (PI/KHS) of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, and a southern institution, the University of Toronto. Beginning in 1999, the PI/KHS initiated a series of collaborative projects that combined recording of elders' oral histories and exposure of youth to Inuinnait heritage with archaeological fieldwork designed to answer fundamental questions about the history of Inuinnait who live within Inuit Nunangat. This relationship has morphed over the years, and continues today with several new projects. In this paper, we will attempt to outline how the project has been organized, how each group has tried to ensure that its activities support the other, and how it has changed over time. While we do not believe that there is a "one size fits all" recipe for how these partnerships can work, we hope that the paper may include a few useful insights as we all seek to unearth more about Arctic archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32345