Inuit are known to be holders of detailed ecological knowledge about their environment and animal resources. Ffowever, this is not the case for the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus), an animal not considered to be culturally or economically important to the Inuit community of Pangnirtung (Baffin Island, Canadian Eastern Arctic). But there is some knowledge of it. This thesis is about the Pangnirtung Inuit knowledge of the Greenland shark, theú perceptions, and the available knowledge and the processes by which this
knowledge
is produced.
This work draws upon my.
field experience over two seasons in Pangnirtung (July to September 2007 and April 2008). I developed this research through a micro-ethnographic collaborative approach. That is to say, this thesis represents knowledge about the Greenland shark in the context of the Pangnirtung Inuit worldview. As fieldwork tools, I employed participant observatioru joining hunting and fishing trips as well as being part of community activities. I also carried out L6 semi-structured interviews, 15 of them InuktitutEngtish interpreted. At the end of the first field season, I conducted a focus group with the hunters who demonstrated interest on the research topic. During the second season, I reviewed the main findings with two English-speaking hunters. The results from this research are framed into two main sections: the first one (Chapter 4) visits the existing relationships between Pangnirtung Inuit and Greenland shark. This section provides a holistic framework to understand the context where knowledge about sharks is produced. The Greenland shark is a "thief" that steals and destroys caught animals, a nuisance to the commercial fishery on Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius híppoglossoides). Rarely seery and neither hunted nor used, the shark is absent from the Pangnirtung Inuit oral tradition. Sharks do not fit into the Pangnirtung collective mental model of what
edible food should look like. They are rubbish-eaters, and their meat is white and keeps twitching even when dead and cut into pieces. The Greenland shark is neither an object of symbolic thought, nor an object of h-unter's everyday
discussion.
The second results section (Chapter 5) explores the Pangnirtung Inuit knowledge about the Greenland shark, as well as the processes that inform the emergence of this knowledge. This section is divided into two main bodies of results. The first one reviews what Pangnirtung Inuit consider when looking at sharks, and the second one presents the inference and abstractions from what is observed. That sharks have a unique skeletal structure, the fact that shark's flesh keeps twitching long after death, the particular way sharks bite, stomach contents, and peaks of abundance were topics that the Pangnirtung Inuit considered as part of their observations, and are known to many hunters. On the other hand, explanations about shark abundance and appearance, habitat, and feeding behaviour were themes that allowed discussiory but did not produce a
consensus.
The Pangnirtung Inuit do not consider themselves as shark experts. They are not even aware of all the knowledge they do in fact possess about this species because it is not a regular subject of discussion. However, their interest in the present research established a platform to involve the Inuit to talk abou! and make sense of, their observations, and to integrate this knowledge of the shark and its habitat. This study is an example of traditional knowledge as an everevolving and adaptive entity. By dealing with a topic not commonly discussed, the research turned into a creative process by which scattered pieces of information were gathered, organised, and integrated. The interaction between Inuit and outside scientists allowed both parties to learn from each other, constructing knowledge of a species that does not draw outstanding interest among the Pangnirtung Inuit.
