Workshop: Research Processes in Western Alaska Indigenous Communities

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This award supports a workshop designed to explore indigenous perspectives on scientific research and research processes in western Alaska. The workshop will focus on: a) the types of scientific research being conducted in and near indigenous communities of the Kawerak region; b) how these studies are being conducted, whether collaboratively with communities or not; c) and to elicit the impressions and suggestions of indigenous communities about the science being conducted in their region and how they might engage more directly with the scientists and their projects. The workshop will bring together approximately 20 individuals, most of whom will be Alaska Native people from western Alaska who are involved in scientific research and knowledgeable of the research being conducted in the region. Additional workshop participants will include other science research stakeholders, including some of the scientists doing research in the region. The workshop organizers will structure the multi-day workshop around the topics and objectives outlined above. A report summarizing and analyzing the results of the workshop will be produced which addresses the main research topics and questions and suggests avenues for future research on this topic. An additional goal for the workshop is to lay some of the groundwork for a full research project that would be a meta-study of scientific research in Alaska Native communities from an anthropological perspective. In addition, the NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE), Ship Operations Program, is contributing to the workshop; the Kawerak Region is on the Bering Sea and the program is very interested in ways that ship-based science can engage local people, primarily Alaska Native communities, in their research projects. These specific questions will be one of the topics of discussion for the workshop.