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This Indigenous-led project aims to better understand historical and contemporary ways in which Alaska Native Peoples steward salmon and the values connected to salmon stewardship. Indigenous Peoples have stewarded Alaska lands and waters for thousands of years yet have been largely excluded from western science and management systems. In this project, we utilize a participatory approach that allows for the equitable valuing of ideas and knowledges to document the breadth and depth of Yup'ik and Athabascan knowledge and governance systems in southwestern Alaska. We reshape research methodologies by centering Indigenous frameworks and methodologies, including circle dialogues and multi-generational interviews led by Indigenous scholars and students in their home communities and regions. In this paper, we share the Yup'ik and Athabascan values, knowledge, management, and governance mechanisms that can improve the long-term sustainability and equity of Alaska salmon systems. This research elevates the voices of Alaska Native salmon stewards and experts from the Kuskokwim Bay and the Kuskokwim River. We elaborate on five key themes that emerged from this research, including traditional Indigenous ways of life, Indigenous stewardship, self-determination, food and livelihood sovereignty, and ecosystem changes, and identify a more equitable and sustainable path forward for salmon and people in Alaska.
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Indigenous Experiences and Contributions to Western Scientific Knowledge Systems: An Ethnographic Exploration
Knowledge systems are embedded in sets of values, worldviews, and cosmologies that affect the whole process of knowledge production. Employing an ethnographic method that integrates participant observation, interviews, and focus groups, I explore the contributions, ideas, points of view, and metaphors that individuals of Indigenous origins introduce to the scientific method when they enter Western scientific knowledge systems. This ethnographic exploration focuses on a group of students with a variety of Indigenous backgrounds participating in a field course on introduction to Ecology. Native-born students contribute innovations to the knowledge production process by shaping research questions, methodologies, and result interpretations. These innovations stem from diverse worldviews and epistemologies, and while they could significantly impact scientific knowledge production, the students may not fully appreciate their own relevance. This work may serve as a testimony of the processes of reflection and negotiation with the scientific methods, practices, and values that native students undergo when participating in a Western scientific context.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1712757
- PAR ID:
- 10552259
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
- Volume:
- 54
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0891-2416
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 85-116
- Size(s):
- p. 85-116
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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