Insights

How can indigenous knowledge benefit science?

Shari Gearheard, geographer

Inuit hunters working together with scientists in the Igliniit project in Nunavut, Canada have developed an innovative way to conduct citizen science and contribute local knowledge of their arctic environment to enhance our understanding of environmental change.

New mapping project is preserving Inuit traditional knowledge

Bifrost gratefully acknowledges the leadership of the sustainability education project Svartarkot Culture Nature and the research networks NIES and NABO for all their valuable support and work behind the scenes that helped make the interview excerpted in this video possible. Grateful acknowledgment is also made to the Kiðagil Guesthouse, where the interview was filmed.

What’s in a word? The high-stakes ties of language, knowledge and environment.

Geographer Shari Gearheard reflects on one of many ways in which environmental change can impact and challenge longstanding local and traditional knowledge as reinforced through cultural practice and language. The stakes may be very high.

How can indigenous knowledge benefit science?

Inuit hunters working together with scientists in the Igliniit project in Nunavut, Canada have developed an innovative way to conduct citizen science and contribute local knowledge of their arctic environment to enhance our understanding of environmental change.

Credit: Hartman, Steven, Peter Norrman and Shari Gearheard. How can indigenous knowledge benefit science? Originally published in bifrostonline.org, 30 November 2017 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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