Tulı́t’a Gender Study

Tulı́t’a Gender Study Print Email

This project is linked to two comparative studies. The project entitled Gender relations and gender-based analysis at the resource development/traditional economy interface led by Dr. Emilie Cameron of Carleton University is sponsored by the Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ReSDA) program. The purpose of this project is to: a) determine how existing institutions and policies with involvement in northern resource extraction are gendered; b) understand how changing employment patterns influence gender relations, particularly as understood by northern Indigenous women; and c) help develop relevant gender-based analysis materials and tools for use in northern communities. The project responds to a need identified by scholars, policymakers, and community organizations to better understand the gendered dimensions of northern resource extraction, and to provide meaningful, practical tools to address gender in decision-making, implementation, and monitoring.

Dr. Rauna Kuokkanen, an indigenous Sámi woman from Northern Finland visited Tulít’a in June 2014 to learn about community views on participation, decision-making, women’s changing roles and self-government. In Tulít’a, Rauna met with women and men, including leaders, elders and youth. As part of her project, she faciliated two youth gatherings in Tulít’a.

Rauna is interested in comparing experiences here with those of Sámi people in northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland, the Inuit in Greenland, and Aboriginal people elsewhere in Canada. Her research project is called Gendering Self-Determination: Comparing Indigenous Peoples in Canada, Greenland and the Nordic Countries. Rauna is associate professor of Political Science and Aboriginal Studies at the University of Toronto where she teaches Aboriginal and indigenous politics.

Rauna started the project in 2011 in her home territory, Sámiland (northern regions of Scandinavia). In March 2013, she spent a month in Greenland. She was in Tulít’a from June 9 to July 7, 2014. From September 2014 to July 2015 she will be writing up the research results after which she will share them with the communities involved in the project.

Funders

The Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada

Project Team

Emilie Cameron (Carleton University)
Rauna Kuokkanen (University of Toronto)
Deborah Simmons (Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı and University of Manitoba)
Suzanne Mills (McMaster University).

Total Budget

$8,000

Traditional Economy