Publications

The Pikialasorsuaq Atlas is an attempt to bridge and represent both scientific knowledge and Inuit knowledge about a critically important Arctic sea ice feature. The Atlas consists of a web-based platform containing a variety of datasets, allowing the viewer to develop a comprehensive understanding of the ecological and cultural importance of the North Water Polynya (Pikialasorsuaq). A collaboration between the Inuit Circumpolar Council's Pikialasorsuaq Commission, Dalhousie University, KNAPK (The Association of Fishers and Hunters in Greenland) and WWF, the Atlas was released in 2017. This paper will describe the methodology used for documenting Inuit knowledge, discuss the structure of the Atlas, and explore the implications of using Inuit knowledge datasets in the context of a broader integrated, web-based platform. More specifically, this paper will explore the following questions: 1) What are the main challenges of representing and using Inuit knowledge data with other types of data; and 2) What are the consequences of decontextualization and reconstruction of knowledge implicit in the Atlas? The authors will argue that Inuit data, if carefully curated and presented, can be employed in the co-production of knowledge by Indigenous Peoples and researchers challenging prevailing cartographic representations with counter-mapping practices.