‘Take it from the top’: northern conceptions about identity in the western Arctic and beyond

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Robinson, Suzanne
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2012
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Arctic; Northwest Territories; Canada; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247411000775; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247411000775

ABSTRACT During the last decades the Arctic has become more central on the world stage. However, despite increased interest how much do people really know about ‘the north’ and the ‘northern people’? The aim of this article is to chronicle a research project by students, who saw themselves as northerners, that used video to capture northerners’ definitions of the north, as well as asking the community about what they wanted newcomers and southern Canada to know about the north. The group also embarked on a new discipline of northerners studying ‘the south’. 43 students interviewed 95 people in the Beaufort Delta, Northwest Territories and 25 people in Edmonton, Alberta. The student researchers’ responses and that of their interviewees are some of the most direct messages on how northerners view their identity and that of their fellow southern Canadians. This project created a video tool to share, educate, and commence a dialogue between people about the north straight from the source.