the Inuit Bowhead Knowledge Study

Came across a really cool study today: Final Report of the Inuit Bowhead Knowledge Study

“As mandated by the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement of 1993, Inuit
knowledge of bowhead whales in Nunavut, Canada was collected by
means of 257 individual interviews with 252 Inuit hunters and elders in
18 communities during 1995 and 1996. During 1996 and 1997, follow-up
workshops were held in eight of these communities where bowheads
appear to be most numerous and seasonally predictable in their
occurrence. The interviews and workshops were tape-recorded and were
of an informal and semi-directive nature, with trained community
interviewers and workshop facilitators employing questionnaires or an
agenda consisting of open-ended questions or specific topics. We sought
information from interviewees and workshop participants on bowhead
whale distribution and migrations, changes in frequency of sightings and
distribution since about 1915, behaviour and ecology, and the cultural
and traditional importance of the bowhead whale to Inuit. Information
on Inuit hunting and Euro-American commercial whaling of bowheads
was also collected.
We analysed the transcripts of 175 translated interviews and the eight
workshops to produce a compendium of informants’ quotations
pertaining to 1) Population Ecology of Bowheads and 2) Cultural and
Traditional Importance of Bowheads to Inuit. Quotations or parts thereof
were then catalogued within a detailed topical framework comprising
these two main topics. This topical framework of quotations formed the
basis for further analysis and the structure of this report.
Inuit testimony indicated that the number of bowhead whales seasonally
occurring in the marine waters of Nunavut has increased significantly in
recent decades, generally since the 1950s, 1960s, or 1970s, with the
reported years and extent of increase varying among communities and
among different informants from the same community. Informants
documented the cultural and traditional importance of bowhead whales
and whaling for the Inuit of Nunavut, and many argued on cultural and
societal grounds for the renewal and re-vitalization of the bowhead hunt.

Really, really interesting stuff. I think this was run by the Canadian government. It came with a CD with 6 maps drawn by study participants indicating bowhead whale patterns. I’ve posted the PDFs below (EPS and WMF files were also included, but I’m not keeping those).

The government does cool stuff sometimes! (hope to come make this post look cooler eventually)

This CDRom contains the six digital files showing informants’ knowledge study of the distribution and migration routes of bowhead whales during each of the Inuktitut seasons.

Map1: Distribution and migration routes of bowheads during UKIUQ (winter).

Map 2: Distribution and migration routes of bowheads during UPIRNGASSAAQ (early spring).

Map 3: Distribution and migration routes of bowheads during UPIRNGAAQ (spring).

Map 4: Distribution and migration routes of bowheads during AUJAQ (summer).

Map 5: Distribution and migration routes of bowheads during UKIASSAAQ (early fall).

Map 6: Distribution and migration routes of bowheads during UKIAQ (fall).

map1 | map2 | map3 | map4 | map5 | map6

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