What They Didn’t Teach You in University

Abstract

Inuit communities in Nunavut are accustomed to welcoming researchers who are academically prepared to work in the Arctic, but often at a loss for how to work with northern communities. Ikaarvik, a youth-focused program based out of Pond Inlet, Nunavut, has created a document called “ScIQ” which is intended to help researchers understand how to meaningfully engage and work smoothly with communities before, during, and after their research and addresses many of the most commonly-asked questions about working with Inuit. Additional opportunities exist for Inuit youth to educate researchers on some of the lesser-known aspects of working with their communities, and they have embraced the opportunity to help researchers understand some of the cross-cultural confusion that commonly occurs, and provide simple common-sense solutions for dealing with those uncomfortable questions that southerners often are too embarrassed to ask. Ikaarvik is here to help!

Ikaarvik: Barriers to Bridges is a program that works with arctic youth to be the bridge between research and their communities. Youth identify and explore the strengths of Inuit Knowledge and the strengths of science, and how the two ways of knowing can work together to address issues of local concern. They work with their communities to identify local research priorities, and they work with researchers to address those priorities.