My sincerest appreciation for the support that this financial award had provided me in my ability to complete my field research. This summer (June 9-August 6th听2019) I travelled to the听Canadian听High Arctic听(Inuit-Owned land)听to complete my archaeological fieldwork in the Igloolik area, and to lead a youth education camp in conjunction with Nunavut Arctic College (the leading post-secondary education institution with campuses throughout Nunavut, funded by the Government of Nunavut). As the primary investigator of this field season, my job to was to organize and lead 5 individuals to conduct archaeological surveys and excavations on Igloolik island near the Igloolik hamlet/community (June 9-July 1)and off island in a remote area known as a听Alarniq听on the Melville Peninsula (Juy听1st-August 6th). While in the Igloolik community we also led the youth camp in which I was the lead supervisor and organizer, through my registered charity the Walker Education and Research Foundation (founded in honour of my brother and my father). The camp involves a series of activities and educational worksheets focused on archaeology and local history, but which taught applied skills of social cooperation, critical thinking, and creative design in the process. The camp was aimed at children between the ages of 9 and 12, but we had several younger children attend as well (6-8), for which we modified our activities into an acceptable form.听
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Regarding fieldwork, our objectives听were听to better understand long term settlement of听a now extinct Pre-Inuit people called the Tuniit (i.e. Paleo-Inuit, Paleoeskimo), who occupied the Igloolik area 4000-800 years ago. Specifically, we were interested in sites that were repeatedly revisited/resettled over the millennia, and how these places were socially developed and understood over time as people moved around the landscape. Understanding place-making practices and how they relate to local cultural identity is especially significant as modern Inuit identities are听intrinsically place-based, with the suffix 鈥�-miut鈥澨�(i.e. 鈥減eople of鈥�), being attached to place names to identify local and regional cultural identities throughout the Canadian Arctic, for example, the Iglulingmiut are 鈥渢he people of Igloolik鈥�, but they are also Nunavummiut 鈥渢he people of Nunavut鈥�. As local knowledge and oral history听in Igloolik describe听cultural and spiritual connections between Tuniit and Inuit, these questions听surrounding place-making and place-based identities听are connected through the histories听of these听areas听and the impact听of听social and environmental modifications. The research helped to shed light on the relationship between听contemporary听cultural听identities and Indigenous self-determination in this time of industrial exploration, climate change, and globalization.听
The funds provided by this grant helped to fund my travel to this remote region, without which fulfilling our听research project would not be possible. This data has already help yield important insights into how these areas were revisited, specially how settlements faced one another.听For example, earlier settlements at听Alarniq听face west (towards the Island of听Kapuivik,听where听a major听settlement is known), and gradually settlements shift to face Igloolik. These visual placements speak to the relationships of places through time in the Igloolik area. These findings, and my dissertation research, are shaping new, more human-oriented听research questions that听provide a foundation for further work in Indigenous archaeology and community-based research initiatives.听听
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Thank you kindly to Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang听for the support!听
Samantha Walker, PhD candidate in the department of Anthropology.听
