Human and Animal Relations in Southwest Alaska: Continuity and Change

该奖项支持Yup' k社区和研究人员之间创新的基于社区的参与式研究（CBPR）合作，目的是科学地记录Yup' k知识，并为后代创建可访问的知识库。PI/合作小组将与阿拉斯加西南部六个地区团体的老年专家合作，了解人类与动物的关系，以及对关键物种的态度转变，包括；海豹、驼鹿、鲑鱼和白鱼。这项研究非常重要，直接解决了阿拉斯加原住民Yup'ik社区确定的研究需求。以前由同一核心团队领导的国家科学基金会资助的项目非常成功，出版了10多本受到好评和好评的主要书籍，包括广受好评的书籍：“未来世代的故事/ Qulirat qanemcitt -llu Kinguvarcimalriit；”“Yuungnaqpiallerput /我们真正生活的方式”和“Yup'ik科学与生存的杰作”和“Ellavut /我们的Yup'ik世界和天气：白令海沿岸的连续性和变化”此外，这种方法创造了强有力的社区/科学合作，并为科学家和社区成员共同创造了有价值的知识。研究团队是非常跨学科的，包括人类学家和Yup'ik学者，以及其他科学家，如地质学家、考古学家、生物学家和物理学家。正如PI所说，合作是这个项目的标志，它建立在科学界和Yup？本土知识社区。该项目将吸引机构合作伙伴和Yup？来自阿拉斯加西南部23个社区的ik合作者。主要的信息收集工具将是在当地社区和伯特利区域中心举行的一系列聚会。研究小组和CEC工作人员在十年前就与老年人一起开创了这种形式，他们发现，与老年专家、年轻的社区成员和非土著科学家组成的小组举行为期两到三天的会议，专门讨论一个特定的主题，是记录传统知识和解决科学问题的一种非常有效的手段。在采访中，长老们回答那些往往不掌握他们所寻求的知识的人提出的问题，而在聚会中，长老们鼓励他们在同龄人中以最高、最复杂的层次发言。由科学家参与的长老聚会的CEC方法是一种非常成功的支持知识共同生产的方式，这不仅对加深对该地区重大社会和环境问题的理解很重要，而且对向公众、资源管理者、政策制定者和其他利益相关者通报这些问题对该地区和其他地区的重要性也很重要。

This award supports an innovative Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) collaboration between Yup'ik communities and investigators with the goal of scientifically documenting Yup'ik knowledge and creating accessible repositories of this knowledge for future generations. The PI/collaborative team will work with elder experts from six regional groups in southwest Alaska, to understand human-animal relations generally, as well as shifting attitudes toward keystone species, including; seals, moose, salmon, and whitefish. This study is highly significant, addressing directly the research needs identified by Alaska Native, Yup'ik communities. The previous NSF funded projects led by the same core team have been very successful with more than 10 major, well reviewed and well received, volumes published, including the critically acclaimed books: "Stories for Future Generations / Qulirat Qanemcit-llu Kinguvarcimalriit;" "Yuungnaqpiallerput / The Way We Genuinely Live Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival;" and "Ellavut / Our Yup'ik World and Weather: Continuity and Change on the Bering Sea Coast." In addition, this methodology has created strong community/science collaborations and the co-production of valuable knowledge to both scientists and community member. The research teams have been very interdisciplinary, including anthropologists and Yup'ik scholars, as well as other scientists e.g., geologists, archaeologists, biologist, and physicists. Collaboration, as the PI states, is the hallmark of this project, which builds on past partnerships between the scientific community and the Yup?ik community. The project will engage institutional partners and Yup?ik collaborators from 23 communities in southwest Alaska. The primary information-gathering tool will be a series of gatherings held both in local communities and the regional center of Bethel. The research team and CEC staff pioneered this format working with elders a decade ago and have found that meetings with small groups of elder experts, younger community members and non-Native scientists for two-three-day gatherings devoted to a specific topic is a very effective means of both documenting traditional knowledge and addressing scientific questions. Unlike interviews, during which elders answer questions posed by those who often do not hold the knowledge they seek, gatherings encourage elders to speak among their peers at the highest, most complex level. The CEC method of elder gatherings in which scientists participate has been a very successful way of supporting the co-production of knowledge important not only for deeper understanding of key social and environmental issues of great interest in the region, and also for informing the public, resource managers, policy makers, and other stakeholders of the importance of these issues the region and beyond.