The Inuit Circumpolar Council – agent of peacemaking for Inuit in Nunavut and Greenland

• Main Author: Schoeppner, Lydia
• Other Authors: Kulchyski, Peter (Peace and Conflict Studies) Trott, Chris (Peace and Conflict Studies), Byrne, Sean (Peace and Conflict Studies) Ladner, Kiera (Political Studies), Henderson, Ailsa (Political Science, University of Edinburgh)
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Hybrid Peace; Inuit; Nunavut; Greenland; Indigenous research methodology; Indigenous peacemaking; Inuit Circumpolar Council; Climate change; Everyday Peacemaking; Decolonization; Canada; Maniitsoq; inuit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/34662

This dissertation analyzes the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) as a peacemaking tool in conflicts around climate change for Inuit in Nunavut/ Canada and Greenland. Climate change, a form of colonialism, exposes Inuit to conditions of structural violence. Processes of decolonization are needed for conflict transformation (CT). The question of whether the ICC is an agent of peacemaking was approached from two perspectives: the ICC/ international perspectives and the community/ local perspectives. This qualitative research is aligned with an Inuit research paradigm that is based on Inuit knowledge. It involved observation, content analysis, and quantitative surveys. The main research method was conversation (with ICC representatives from Greenland and Canada and with local Inuit from Maniitsoq/ Greenland and Panniqtuuq/ Nunavut). Decolonization as both processes of assimilation into the dominant structure and processes of resistance against the dominant structure is reflected in the Hybrid Peace model that incorporates local/ Indigenous conflict resolution approaches with imported/ Western peacemaking tools. This study’s first key finding is that the ICC is an agent of Hybrid Peacemaking for Inuit in conflicts related to climate change because it combines pre-contact Inuit forms of conflict resolution rooted in Inuit knowledge (e.g. working collaboratively toward a common goal, pragmatism, conflict avoidance, and public conflict resolution) with typical Western conflict resolution mechanisms (e.g. establishing a non-governmental organization, dealing with political decision-makers, and actively co-creating the international political level to enhance the voice of Inuit). The second key finding is that there is a rich array of Everyday Peacemaking processes in both communities, wherein local Inuit have realized innovative and creative ways of coping with their daily challenges by sharing time with each other, developing and maintaining relationships, active listening, entertaining, and healing by being in nature. ...