Human and Animal Relations in Southwest Alaska: Continuity and Change

该奖项支持Yup'ik社区和调查人员之间的创新社区基础研究（CBPR）合作，其目标是科学地记录Yup'ik知识，并为后代创造可访问的知识库。 PI/协作团队将与来自阿拉斯加西南部六个地区团体的老年专家合作，以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。 这项研究是非常重要的，直接解决阿拉斯加原住民，Yup'ik社区确定的研究需求。 由同一个核心团队领导的以前的NSF资助项目非常成功，出版了10多本重要的、受到好评和好评的书籍，包括广受好评的书籍：“未来世代的故事/ Qulirat Qanemcit-llu Kinguvarcimalriit”;“Yuungnaqpiallerput /我们收集Yup'ik科学和生存的现场杰作的方式”;和“Ellavut /我们的Yup'ik世界和天气：白令海海岸的连续性和变化。“此外，这种方法创造了强大的社区/科学合作，并为科学家和社区成员共同生产有价值的知识。 研究团队非常跨学科，包括人类学家和Yup'ik学者，以及其他科学家，例如，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之间过去的伙伴关系基础上。ik社区。 该项目将与机构合作伙伴和Yup？他们来自阿拉斯加西南部的23个社区。 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集会。 研究小组和中央环境委员会的工作人员在十年前与老年人一起开创了这种形式，他们发现，与老年专家、年轻社区成员和非土著科学家组成的小组举行为期两三天的会议，专门讨论一个特定主题，是记录传统知识和解决科学问题的一种非常有效的手段。 与访谈不同的是，在访谈中，长者回答那些往往不掌握他们所寻求的知识的人提出的问题，聚会鼓励长者在最高、最复杂的层面上与同龄人交谈。 科学家参与的CEC老年聚会方法是一种非常成功的方式，可以支持知识的共同生产，这不仅对于更深入地了解该地区感兴趣的关键社会和环境问题非常重要，而且对于向公众、资源管理者、政策制定者和其他利益相关者通报这些问题在该地区及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.