Knowledge Production and Policy in the Arctic: The Political Ecology of the Thick-billed Murre

dc.contributor.advisorWalls, Matthew
dc.contributor.authorSine, Mary
dc.contributor.committeememberApentiik, Rowland
dc.contributor.committeememberPeric, Sabrina
dc.date2022-06
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-02T16:05:57Z
dc.date.available2022-05-02T16:05:57Z
dc.date.issued2022-04
dc.description.abstractIn Greenland, and across the Arctic, subsistence hunting has always been a critical part of the survival of Indigenous groups and their complex moral economies. For many Inuit and Inughuit communities in Greenland, this critical relationship with hunted animals, like the seabird the thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia or “Appa/Appat” in Greenlandic), has remained an important aspect of life even after Danish colonization, Home Rule, and Self-Government have changed the political and economic landscape in the country over the last 200 years. Within the last three decades, however, the thick-billed murre population in Greenland has been facing a decline with some colonies being lost in Southwestern Greenland, which has become the focus of scientific research conducted by seabird biologists in Greenland. This research, and the recommendations made by scientists based upon it has led to stricter hunting regulations and quotas affecting the relationship between hunters and their environment. In this case study of the thick-billed murre and its relationship with humans in Greenland, I utilize a political ecology analytical framework to examine through texts how authority is constructed by scientists to influence hunting regulation policy decisions. Through both thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis, I examine scientific studies, international and national reports, and existing regulations and recommendations. I demonstrate how the thick-billed murre population decline in Greenland is framed as an international and regional problem, but the primary solution that is recommended as the most “actionable” is further regulated local hunting in Greenland. I argue that by using their authority as scientific knowledge producers, scientists and conservationists control the narrative surrounding the population decline in Greenland and characterize hunting as a dysfunctional Inuit-species relationship that requires stricter regulations. However, as they utilize their authority to assert this narrative and to create and push their recommendations to Greenlandic lawmakers and international organizations, they fail to fully interrogate other factors behind the decline and rely on an outdated framework that places scientific knowledge over other forms of knowledge at the expense of Indigenous communities in Greenland.en_US
dc.identifier.citationSine, M. (2022). Knowledge production and policy in the Arctic: the political ecology of the thick-billed murre (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39713
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/114593
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArtsen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectPolitical Ecologyen_US
dc.subjectKnowledge Productionen_US
dc.subjectGreenlanden_US
dc.subjectRegulationen_US
dc.subjectSubsistenceen_US
dc.subjectThick-billed Murreen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Social Sciencesen_US
dc.subject.classificationAnthropologyen_US
dc.subject.classificationAnthropology--Culturalen_US
dc.titleKnowledge Production and Policy in the Arctic: The Political Ecology of the Thick-billed Murreen_US
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineAnthropologyen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (MA)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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