Paper short abstract:

This paper critiques adaptation discourse in the Canadian Arctic in the context of the political economy of Inuit knowledge production. It argues that a reconceptualization of both ‘adaptation’ and ‘Inuit knowledge’ are needed to account for the increasing importance of bureaucratic skill in connecting Inuit communities to needed resources.

Paper long abstract:

Inuit in the Canadian Arctic have been at the forefront of efforts to document local observations of environmental change. Inuit knowledge, or Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, holds an official role in the bureaucratic practice of the Government of Nunavut, Canada's newest and largest territory. Many arguments for the importance of Inuit knowledge in research and decision-making focus on its epistemic strength in identifying and supporting local level adaptive response. This paper situates the production of Inuit knowledge of environmental change in the larger political economy of knowledge production in the contemporary Canadian Arctic. Transmission and documentation of land-based knowledge is increasingly dependent on institutional support and funding. The emphasis on Inuit knowledge in the context of adaptation obscures the daily practices of Inuit involved in government and community-based organizations. At the same time, Inuit workers in these institutions affirm the significance of land-based knowledge as a fundamental value that animates their bureaucratic work. I argue that a reconceptualization of both 'adaptation' and 'Inuit knowledge' beyond land-based knowledge and skill is needed to account for the increasing importance of bureaucratic practices in connecting Inuit communities to needed resources. At the same time, the value of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit for Inuit is more than epistemic or political; it serves as an affirming and life-orienting ideal. My critique therefore aims to unsettle adaptation discourses in the context of Inuit knowledge production while upholding a role for Inuit knowledge in contributing to both local and global understandings of change.