Dissertation Improvement Grant: Home Watching TV: Traditional Knowledge and Social Change in the Kluane Region of Canada's Yukon Territory

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This dissertation project is a village level study of environmental thought and practice in the Kluane region of Canada's Yukon Territory. In the past decade, studies have tried to understand or document "traditional ecological knowledge" for use in resource management efforts, environmental impact assessments and land claims negotiations. However, this project argues that that knowledge is not simply an abstract product of the human intellect, but is one aspect of broader cultural processes that are embedded in complex networks of social relations and practices. By approaching land use in the Kluane area from this perspective, the project goes beyond traditional knowledge studies and considers how environmental knowledge and practice are changing and what these changes mean for local people and resources. The study uses participant observation, interviews, and archival/library research to examine traditional ecological knowledge as a process.