Inuksiutit: Food Sovereignty in Nunavut

Inuksiutit: Food Sovereignty in Nunavut and the co-production of country food knowledge (IFSNu)

Inuksiutit is a word in the Inuit language often used to refer to food from the land ‘country food’. It translates as: that which makes us human.

The Inuksiutit: Food Sovereignty in Nunavut and the co-production of country food knowledge (IFSNu) project sets out to define and implement pathways to food sovereignty applicable to Inuit Nunangat. We are an interdisciplinary team of non-Inuit and Inuit academics, community-based researchers, artists, Inuit Knowledge Holders, Inuit Elders and young people representing different specialisms: country food, Inuit nutrition, public health, epidemiology, social anthropology, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ), participatory/Indigenous methodologies, curatorial practice, Inuit visual and performing arts.

The Inuksiutit: Food Sovereignty in Nunavut and the co-production of country food knowledge (IFSNu) project is part of a series of projects funded by the Canada-Inuit Nunangat-United Kingdom Arctic Research Programme (CINUK).

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Questions leading our research

1.

How Inuit food stories renew social bonds with ancestors, uphold Inuit community values of environmental stewardship, and sharing, and foster healthy eating practices?

2.

How are Inuit food choices and possible food futures affected by climate change?

3.

How can celebrating Inuit country food traditions and advocate food sovereignty contribute to broader calls for equity, justice and sustainability in Inuit Nunangat?

Aims and objectives

1.

Promote the intergenerational transmission of country food knowledge

2.

Foster community health and wellbeing through capacity-building in younger generations of Inuit

3.

Advance local, regional, national and international understanding of the drivers of food insecurity among Inuit and their connections to Polar climate change

Working with partners in the Nunavut communities of Kinngait and Mittimatalik, the IFSNu project team engages in community-based, qualitative, intergenerational research, directed at the digital documentation of Inuit country food knowledge.