This week, I spoke with Rebecca Goodwin, a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario about her research into historical gender roles of Inuvialuit men and women.
Goodwin told me that one example that is often brought up in her research interviews with Inuvialuit elders and knowledge holders is the ulu as a woman's knife.
She said that she has found when the purpose of an ulu is explained to people who are not Inuit, it is described as a woman's knife, despite the fact that both men and women used ulus for hundreds of years, and still do today.
I think Goodwin's work is incredibly interesting, but more importantly, it is pertinent to give us a more complete look at Inuvialuit history and archeology because, as she points out, it is often told solely from men's perspective.
The Inuvialuit Living History Project, according to its website, is designed to give Inuvialuit people access to the Smithsonian Institution's MacFarlane Collection.
This collection includes approximately 5,000 natural history specimens from the Anderson River Inuvialuit in the 1860s.
Few people have had the chance to view the collection, so the aim of the Inuvialuit Living History Project is to ensure that as many Inuvialuit people as possible are able to access the knowledge held in the collection's artifacts.
Last week, I spoke to Jeff Grieve, who is also working on the Inuvialuit Living History Project. His work revolves around building a digital, interactive map that would allow Inuvialuit people to access information and multimedia through the Internet about their cultural heritage.
Grieve's work is also interesting and important because it will aid in making this historical information accessible.
In particular, it will make it more accessible to Inuvialuit youth.
When you give youth a fun, interactive way to learn about their cultural heritage and history – digitally, be it on their computer or phone – they are way more likely to take a genuine interest than if they're being forced to learn about it in a traditional history class in school.
The Inuvialuit Living history project is making great strides in providing an Inuvialuit history that is as complete and accessible as possible, which will be invaluable for this generation and generations to come.