SELECTED THESES ON THE CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC

The Inuit and their predecessors have occupied the North American Arctic for more than four thousand years, and they have had to work hard to keep their culture and their society from disintegrating -- especially during the past century. They accomplish this goal by telling their stories, by remembering their language, by dancing to the drums, singing the old songs, and hunting caribou and seal. And in recent years, they have turned to nun media to share and preserve their culture. Video and television in particular represent opportunities for the Inuit to negotiate their culture for themselves and for the rest of the world. I conducted fieldwork research for nine months in Igloolik, Nunavut. I focused on Inuit videography and television, and at the center of my work were important questions about the process of cultural negotiation for both internal and external consumption. How are disagreements resolved? Whose voices are included in the decision-making process? How does the intended audience affect the discussions and their outcome? The purpose of this exploration was to determine how culture is created when opportunities for its deliberate construction present themselves. In this dissertation, I look at three production groups in particular: the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, Igloolik Isuma, and the Tariagsuk Video Center. I employed several methodological approaches: I described and analyzed archival material at the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, Igloolik Isuma, and the Tariagsuk Video Centre; I conducted in-depth interviews with Zacharias Kunuk and others at Isuma, the editors and reporters at the IBC, the primary producers at the video centre, and other people involved in Inuit media in Igloolik; I interviewed Inuit elders and other community leaders in Igloolik and Iqaluit; I studied the impressive collection of audiotaped narratives at the Igloolik Research Centre; and I attended, observed, and recorded the scripting, filming, and editing of these productions whenever possible. I conclude that television and video represent vital means by which the Inuit grapple with questions of Folklore, politics, and art.'