Technology and Inuit identity: Facebook use by Inuit youth

• Published in: AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples
• Main Author: Castleton, Alexander
• Other Authors: Northern Science Training Program
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; inuit; Iqaluit
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1177180118782993; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1177180118782993; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/1177180118782993

This article discusses the relationship between technology and Inuit identity. Using interviews, it explores how a group of students from the Arctic College located in the community of Iqaluit in the Canadian Arctic, use the social network Facebook. It was found that in addition to an expected use of the social network associated with the script promoted by the technology, Inuit youth used Facebook to access content related to their identity in various groups, discuss sociocultural issues, and remember traditions. This article argues that Inuit identity is an example of how indigenous cultures have to be understood as something dynamic, constantly changing, for which information and communication technologies are fundamental. Furthermore, this article claims that rather than understanding Facebook as a tool that is adopted by Indigenous people—as previous literature tends to hold—the use of digital media should be conceived as part and parcel of identity.