Kiŋikmiut ukpuliivut: an Iňupiaq framework for bridging spirituality and stewardship in natural resource management

Abstract

Despite decades of traction and respect that Indigenous Knowledge has gained, Western and other sources of academic sciences diverge at the point of what is acceptable, what is real, and what is valid regarding Indigenous spiritual belief systems interwoven throughout Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous management practices. My project uses Kiŋikmiut1 ukpuliivut2 and iniqtautit3 as a framework to bridge the understanding for people outside our culture about how our spiritual belief system and customary Iňupiaq4 laws ensure balance and sustainability5 ofthe resources that our people depend upon. In this work, I seek to address the misconceptions that dominant Western scientific worldviews have of Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous spirituality within natural resource management. Through studying Kiŋikmiut oral histories of our elders, my project builds a framework for Kiŋikmiut governance, which maintains social order and balance in our community and our spirit world, especially as it pertains to our hunting, fishing, and gathering way of life. As an Iňupiaq Indigenous researcher whose epistemology comes from the Kiŋikmiut worldview, my research authentically presents the reciprocal relationships between our people and all living and nonliving things from our taġiuq6, nuna7, pitaksrat8, and siḷa9 and all that they provide for us. This project offers an inside view of Kiŋikmiut Ukpuliivut: An Iňupiaq Frameworkfor Bridging Spirituality and Stewardship in Natural Resource Management for the scientific community to learn from and better understand Indigenous ways of knowing in natural resource management and beyond. It presents recommendations for transforming natural resource management frameworks to build equity and respect for Indigenous Knowledge and traditional management practices to ensure adaptive, flexible, holistic management of our traditional food resources10. ----- 1 Kiŋikmiut means the people from Kiŋigin. Kiŋigin means the high place named for the mountain that stands behind our village. The post base -miut means the people of that place or tribe. 2 Ukpuliivut are our spiritual beliefs that are woven into our Indigenous Knowledge system and our traditional management practices. 3 Iniqtautit are our traditional laws that govern our Kiŋikmiut ways of life. 4 Iňupiaq means the real people. Iňupiat are the plural form of the word Iňupiaq. 5 The word sustainability is used in relation to the framework ofthis project, with the understanding that the health, wellbeing, and abundance ofnatural resources is inextricably linked to our Siḷam Inua and the balance that is maintained by adhering to our ukpuliivut and iniqtautit. This concept has also been explored and described by Dr. Oscar Kawagley in the Yup’ik way. (A. O. Kawagley 1995). 6 Taġiuq is ocean. 7 Nuna is land. 8 Pitaksrat means animals. 9 Siḷa is our air/weather spirit that extends into the universe. 10 Our traditional food resources are the fish, wildlife, and other resources, such as marine mammals, fish, birds, duck eggs, shellfish like crab, wild greens, berries, and more, harvested throughout all seasons of the year in accordance with our ukpuliivut and iniqtautit.