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PhD student examines historical Inuvialuit gender roles

Rebecca Goodwin, an anthropology PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario, is looking at historical differences between the roles of Inuvialuit men and women as part of the Inuvialuit Living History Project.

Rebecca Goodwin, left, shows Ed Goh how to use a traditional bow drill
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Goodwin

Goodwin said the Inuvialuit Living History Project aims to bring Inuvialuit cultural heritage and artifacts back to the North, because it often ends up in museums down south.

She said this coincides with her research into the differences between the roles of Inuvialuit men and women in the past.

I look at what men and women did in the past, and what people who fall in between or outside of those gendered categories did in the past," said Goodwin. "I'm looking at what activities people did, what kind of objects they used, because archeologists tend to like to make things simple … so there's this idea that men and women were the same across the entire Arctic, and that's probably not true."

Goodwin said she is completing formal interviews with elders, knowledge holders and community members in Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk, Aklavik and Sachs Harbour in order to gather information about the past.

"What better way to get at that than talking to people who have memories and stories about the past, instead of just looking at the object, which is how archeology has been done for hundreds of years," she said. "Talking to people is a way of injecting Inuvialuit perspectives into archaeological understandings of the Arctic."

Goodwin said ideas about ulus and harpoons often come up in her discussions about historical gender roles.

"The ulu is obviously a big one. The way it's described to people who are not Inuvialuit or who are not Inuit is often as a woman's knife," said Goodwin. "Ulus have been used by people in the Arctic for hundreds and hundreds of years, and people still use them today. Although, I've heard from many knowledge holders that just because it's a woman's knife, doesn't mean only women use it. Men use it now and did use it in the past."

Goodwin said it is important to talk about historical gender roles in order to give a more complete historical account of Inuvialuit people.

"All of the history of science and social science, it often ends up being focused on men's work," she said. "Even though people have not been talking about gender specifically for that long in archeology, we've never not talked about it, implicitly. There were lots of stereotypical gender norms that were injected into history of science and archeology. It's important to talk about men and women to get a full view of the past, not just men."

Goodwin said she has heard from some of her interview subjects that they think differences are important to acknowledge.

"What we hear from people is that there are important differences between women and men," she said. "They may not be as strict or defined as researchers have suggested in the past, but there are important differences. What I've been hearing is that people think it's important for kids and youth to know the differences."

Goodwin, who has been doing work in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region for five years, said the findings of her research will appear online, on social media and in other parts of the Inuvialuit Living History Project, such as a digital map.

Goodwin said she will be returning to Inuvik in late September to continue her research, and is interested in speaking with anyone who wants to share their experiences with the project.