75
Arctic Yearbook 2013
Dingman
For polar scientists, increased recognition of indigenous-based TEK has enriched Western research,
filling gaps that scientific research could not. In that an inherent advantage of TEK is based in local
observation that takes place over time and space, and passed down through the generations, this
approach has added invaluable data and perspectives to Western-based science.
Arctic Indigenous Media Makers: Broadcasting and Climate Change
With the turn of the twenty-first century, distinct shifts toward collaborative knowledge creation in
polar science have occurred separately yet in tandem with development of new media technologies.
Together this represents a fundamental departure from ‗value-laden‘ methods of the past which
privileged a Western narrative (Willox, 2013: 129). For Arctic indigenous peoples new media
comprising the tools of Web 2.0 has significantly contributed to the reclamation of indigenous
knowledge. Indeed, a great advantage of Web 2.0 is that it bestows agency to the individual,
bypassing the power dynamics and colonization of indigenous knowledge often embedded in
Western research (Srinivasan, 2013: 205; Willox, 2013: 129), and challenges preexisting notions of
‗truth‘ (Ginsberg, 2008; Srinivasan, 2013).
Faye Ginsberg (2008: 139), an analyst of self-generated indigenous Web content emphasizes the
potential for social and political transformation as a result of new media:
Increasingly, the circulation of these media globally … has become an important basis, for
nascent but growing transnational network of indigenous media makers and activists.
These activists are attempting to reverse processes through which aspects of their societies
have been objectified, commodified, and appropriated; their media productions and
writings are efforts to recuperate their histories, land rights, and knowledge bases as their
own cultural property.
Indeed, for Canada‘s Inuit, adaptation of Western media technologies is closely associated with
furthering Inuit self-determination (Huhndorf, 2003: 823) by renegotiating the conditions under
which Inuit content is created and distributed. An early example is based in the 1970s expansion of
Canada‘s communication satellite system that decades later indirectly led to the creation of Inuit-
based Isuma.tv. For disconnected yet similar reasons, both Inuit and Canadians sought to reclaim
their cultural identity through media.
Briefly, in 1972 as an aspect of the nation‘s ―cultural defense against the encroachment of mass
media from the United States‖ (White, 2005: 54), Canada‘s Far North was the site of the world‘s
first domestic orbital satellite system. However, with this expansion of the nation‘s communication
capabilities, southern-based programming ―invaded the North‖ (White, 2005: 54). This was largely
seen as a cultural encroachment just as Ottawa had perceived U.S. mass media. In 1975 when the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) began broadcasting in the Far North it depicted
―southern attitudes, values and behaviors‖ (
Inuit Broadcasting Corporation
). This was understood as a
threat to Inuit heritage and Inuit were challenged ―to find a way of adapting this technology to their
own ends, using television as a vehicle for the protection of their language rather than as an agent of
its destruction‖ (
Inuit Broadcasting Corporation
). When the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) was
launched in 1981, programming was in Inuktitut and promoted Inuit culture and language. Shortly