From Hunter-Gatherer Landscapes to Inuvialuit Living History: Evolving Approaches to Community Archaeology in the Western Arctic

Event Details

• Wednesday, November 8, 2017
  4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  
  Building: Gzowski College
  Room: 108

Professor Hodgetts first travelled to Sachs Harbour, a tiny community on the south coast of Banks Island, NWT, in 2007. The work she and her graduate students have done with Inuvialuit community members (Inuvialuit are the Inuit of Canada’s western Arctic) since that first visit has transformed her understanding of archaeology and shifted her research in new directions. She will draw on her experiences to explore the challenges of doing community-based research in a northern context. Professor Hodgetts will also outline how they have responded to community members’ wishes for less destructive methods and more involvement in the research by utilizing geophysics, targeted excavation, digital technologies and social media. She will discuss the transformative effect her relationships with Inuvialuit community members have had on her research practice, which she now understands as a form of social activism. Finally, she will look to the future, outlining her plans to expand the Inuvialuit Living History website to provide increased access for Inuvialuit to their cultural heritage in southern museums, and to work towards reconciliation by educating southern Canadians about Inuvialuit culture and heritage.

Contact Info

Professor Paul Szpak

Department of Anthropology

705-748-1011 x 6363