"Trails and Their Role in the Construction of Inuit pan-Arctic Identities"
The 2011-2012 Fulbright Lecture at the University of Washington

Dr. Claudio Aporta
Fulbright Canada Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies at the University of Washington

Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.
Burke Room, Burke Museum, U.W. Seattle Campus 

The Inuit's experience in the Arctic is deeply rooted in a sense of homeland, ethnic identity, and the struggle to generate a sustainable livelihood. Dr. Aporta’s lecture will explore this connection to the Arctic environment through an analysis of how Inuit, using traditional knowledge, have navigated trails from the Bering Strait to Greenland, developing a sense of pan-Arctic identity.

Dr. Claudio Aporta, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, conducts ethnographic research in Nunavut, Canada’s Inuit territory. Dr. Aporta studies the relationship between Inuit and their physical environment and the transmission of oral geographic knowledge in historical and contemporary context. The Fulbright Canada Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies, housed in the Canadian Studies Center, is sponsored by the Office of Global Affairs, Social Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School Fund for Excellence and Innovation, and the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. The Fulbright Chair was established in 2006 as part of an agreement between the above units and the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America, Fulbright Canada. For more information, visit the Canadian Studies Center at the University of Washington.