No description available.

The Porcupine caribou herd is the focus of multiple stakeholder groups, all of which have different ways of understanding and valuing caribou. This thesis focuses on the knowledge and perspectives that the Teetł’it Gwich’in of Teetł’it Zheh (Fort McPherson, NWT) bring to Porcupine caribou co-management. This paper-based thesis has two major aims: first, to explore how the Teetł’it Gwich’in construct knowledge about caribou; and second, to explore Teetł’it Gwich’in rules-in-use with respect to caribou hunting. A comparison is made between Gwich’in methods of knowledge construction and rules-in-use with those of the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), and the Porcupine Caribou Management Board (PCMB), with the intent of understanding difficulties in co-management. The thesis offers the concept of the Gwich’in Knowledge Complex, a knowledge complex created from multiple sources of information about caribou, including scientific information (mainly from the PCMB and the GNWT) as well as Traditional Knowledge. / Rural Sociology

This thesis examines the practices of Indigeneity, acts of Indigenous social and cultural traditions stemming from Teetł’it Gwich’in land-based culture in the Northwest Territories. By emphasizing Teetł’it Gwich’in philosophy, this project illustrates how Teetł’it Gwich’in practices of Indigeneity are rooted in their social, physical, and cultural relationship with the land, which are central to Gwich’in self-determination. This thesis demonstrates traditional Teetł’it Gwich’in self-governance practices are driven by cultural and social norms rooted in traditional knowledge, as well as contemporary Gwich’in-Canada relations. Utilizing knowledge collected from Teetł’it Gwich’in elders, these first-hand accounts show the connection between Canada and the Teetł’it Gwich’in through state policies that impede Teetł’it Gwich’in self-determination. By examining these challenges to their cultural practices, Teetł’it Gwich’in worldviews rooted in land-based practices is considered the basis for Gwich’in self-determination rooted in the physical and cultural landscape of Gwich’in lands. / Graduate / 0615 / 0740