Northern Dene Astronomical and Sky-Related Knowledge, Central Western Alaska to Great Slave Lake N.W.T. (Northwest Territories of Canada), (2018-2022).

• Main Author: Chris M. Cannon
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2022
• Subjects: Indigenous astronomy; Northern Dene; Athabascan; comparative ethnography; stellar wayfinding; whole-sky constellations; Big Dipper; Gwich'in; Northwest Territories; Canada; Great Slave Lake; First Nations; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.18739/A22N4ZK21

This data set includes primary materials collected and compiled by Chris M. Cannon between 2018-2022 as part of his NSF (National Science Foundation) supported doctoral dissertation research on Northern Dene (Athabascan) astronomical and sky-related knowledge. Additional data pertaining to this research that Cannon collected before 2018 is also archived with this data set. In total, this comparative and multi-sited anthropological study spans 11 years and includes contributions from Northern Dene Elders, speakers, and tradition bearers from 12 ethnolinguistic groups across 32 communities between central-western Alaska and the eastern end of Great Slave Lake, N.W.T. (Northwest Territories of Canada). These data include audio recordings (interviews, conversations, stories, texts, linguistic elicitation), transcribed and translated texts and stories, maps, star charts, wordlists, video recordings, photos, fieldnotes, published papers, and Cannon's PhD dissertation. Publications relating to this research acknowledge the financial support of NSF and variety of other institutions, First Nations, and Tribes.