Program starts - June 29, 2013
Program finishes - August 2, 2013
Students will be marked on their participation in each session, and will lose the mark if they do not attend.
How much will it cost? 1) You will need to pay for 12 university credit hours (it is a 12 credit hour -- four 3-credit hour courses -- program and you must take all four courses), roughly between $1254 and $1308. Fees vary according to the number of Environmental Science vs. Arts credits that you take. International Student Rates apply, please contact the Registrar's Office http://umanitoba.ca/student/records/fees/1501.htm for further details. Students from outside the University of Manitoba will also have to pay the $60 admission fee.
2) plus airfare (see below)
3) plus a Travel Fee ($1195). (It remains to be decided if this will change). I will confirm these amounts and let you know air fares in early 2013.4) There is also approximately $100 in book expenses.
5) Students from outside Winnipeg must take into account travel to (and from) Winnipeg for the pre-session. We will try to find billets for out of town students for the pre-session, but there may be some food expenses involved.
6) Students should also anticipate spending money while in Pangnirtung (junk food and gifts).
Why Pangnirtung? Pangnirtung is a traditional Inuit community. Unlike larger places like Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet, which are interesting but contain a large number of qallunaat (non-Inuit) residents, Pangnirtung is large enough (about 1300) that we won’t disturb it too much, but it still retains the feel of a traditional community. Children in the playgrounds there still play and chatter and laugh in Inuktitut. The community has excellent facilities which include an adult education centre, a cultural centre, an arts and crafts co-operative, a health centre and two secondary schools. It has a rich history: Cumberland Sound was a critical area in the mid-nineteenth century for European and American whaling interests. Franz Boaz invented the anthropological practice of field-work based on research he did at the whaling station on Kekertan Island (now a territorial historic site and park) in Cumberland Sound. It is a stunning and vibrant example of the arctic ecology, with a glacial mountain fiord complex that is one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth (sketched and painted by AY Jackson in 1927). A national park, Auyuittuq (where the land never melts), is situated at the north end of the Pangnirtung Fiord.
What kinds of course credit can I get? This is a 12 credit hour program. You must chose between taking 9 Native Studies credit hours and 3 Environmental Science credit hours or 6 Native Studies credit hours and 6 Environmental Science credit hours.
All students must take:
- NATV 2080, “Inuit Society and Culture”
- NATV 3390 “Cultural Continuity and Change in Cumberland Sound”
- ENVR 3020 A60, “Traditional Land Use and Ecology of Cumberland Sound”.
In addition, students must choose one of:
- NATV 1290 “Introductory Inuktitut” or
- ENVR 3020 A61 “Strategies in Environment and Resource Management in Cumberland Sound”.
What kinds of things have students done in the past?
One of the central themes of the course is the ethical relation of students to the community. Students are expected to think seriously and to act in a manner that minimizes their negative impacts and makes positive contributions to the community. Students have undertaken projects in a variety of ways to achieve the latter goal, including:
- cleaning up each night at Pangnirtung Music Festival
- cooking and serving at Park’s Day feast
- radio show for the entire community
- arts night festival
- digitizing baptismal records for the church
- collecting heather and serving at Elder’s tea
- Pancake Breakfast for entire community
- story time for children at Angmarlik Centre library
- girls’ night for young women
- cleaning and filing at Hunter-Trapper’s Organization
- filing at Renewable Resources
- developing a proposal for the Healing Foundation
- reshelving books in school library
- computer work at Economic Development
- games/activities for children in gym
- basketball tournament with young adults in gym
- sewing at the Uqqurmiut Centre
- vegetation survey in Auyuittuq National Park
- human waste management in Auyuittuq National Park
- cleaning garbage off the beach area
-organizing baseball clinics for children
-introducing the sport of ‘ultimate frisbee’ to Panniqtuuq
-assisting with bereaved families
How do I get there? Our experience has shown that students can frequently find air fares cheaper than those we can arrange through group bookings. Many students fly on student stand-by or using Air Miles/Aeroplan Points. Each student is responsible for booking his/her own air travel (including the trip to Winnipeg for the Pre-session). You can get from Winnipeg to Ottawa any way you wish (air; bus; car). Normally we fly from Ottawa to Iqaluit and Iqaluit to Pangnirtung by First Air (see www.firstair.ca). It is also possible to fly Canadian North from either Ottawa or Montreal to Iqaluit. We do not recommend the routing from Winnipeg to Rankin Inlet to Iqaluit. Since 2004, the full excursion fare (i.e. what the professors paid!) Winnipeg to Panniqtuuq return was just over $2400 (including taxes). We do not know yet if the fares have changed in the past year.
What will it be like up there? In the summer you will experience 24 hour daylight conditions, particularly in early July. It will be generally windy, mild and wet. Bring fall clothing: a good raincoat and sweater and hiking boots are most essential. You won’t wear shorts much if at all. In a nutshell, the weather alternates from patches of beautiful blue sky sunshiny days (almost t-shirt weather) to days of cool nearly unending drizzle. You can count on some of both. It’s windy all the time! There will be days when we travel on the ocean or if you hike in the national park when warmer clothes, at least wool socks (a must), head gear, mitts and scarves will be appreciated. Long undies? A must. On the other hand, the 2001 and 2006 program encountered sunny hot weather almost every day, so prediction is impossible...
Where do I stay? How do I live? We will be camped out in the hills behind the community. IT IS A VERY STEEP TWENTY MINUTE WALK STRAIGHT UP THIS HILL TO THE TENTS AND STUDENTS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO MAKE THIS WALK EVERYDAY!! Students must bring their own tent or arrange in advance to share. You’ll need a good sleeping bag and foamie/therma rest. We will have access to one of the school gymnasiums, where we will be able to use showers and bathrooms and to cook for ourselves. This means we’re in a ‘backyard camping’ style situation, except the backyard is about 15 minutes walk from the kitchen! Your gear can also be stored in the school. The daily routine involves straggling down to the gym in the morning, having a bite, an hour inuktitut lesson, perhaps working to cook or clean for lunch or dinner (with a group, see below), a two hour workshop or lecture in the afternoon, and then having a great deal of time in the day and late into the night to talk to local people, visit, engage in projects, and so on. For about a week in the middle of the Pangnirtung portion of the program we will take our gear out on the land with local hunting families, where the rhythm of the land and people will determine our pace.
What do we eat? We take a lot of food (dried goods) up with us and purchase fresh stuff from the local stores. Food costs are covered in the course fee. Cooking and cleaning for the group is shared work: everyone must do their part! That usually means those with cooking talent do our meals, others take a larger role in cleaning. Our food ranges from vegetarian style to caribou stew! Usually students at least sample, and often rabidly enjoy, caribou, muktuk (whale meat), seal meat and arctic char; these are incorporated in our diet, especially during the on the land experience. The group itself will decide on the menu (subject to budgetary constraint) and ensure everyone’s dietary needs are met to the degree possible.
Film, cigarettes, batteries all cost more in Pangnirtung. You’ll save a lot by bringing them. You won’t need shorts. Swimming is infrequent and consists of quick dips in icy water (you decide if you want to bring swim suits for that purpose). You won’t need a flashlight, though candle lanterns are useful on rainy days for warmth and dryness in the tents.
What about the mosquitoes?
Don’t ask me about mosquitoes! They are generally less bothersome than in northern Manitoba, particularly in Pangnirtung itself. Out on the land, you can get trapped in boggy tundra areas sheltered from the wind and swarmed by varmints, but then, what the heck were you doing going there in the first place? Head back to the coast, find some breeze, you’ll be fine! What can I buy there? For you commodity-demons, there are lots of interesting goodies. Most students get a Pangnirtung toque or scarf from the tapestry studio (these are expensive, about $30 for a toque, though there is a cheapie bin). One can also get small carvings and jewelry from local sculptors at a price range of $60 to infinity just about. Prints can be bought off the artists at around $100, usually a bit more from the artists’ co-op. There are quite a range of other local crafts. Despite pleas of poverty from students, once in Pangnirtung most people succumb to the shopping wonders offered by the local artists. You can get all your Christmas shopping done early!
For further information contact Prof. Peter Kulchyski (kulchysk@cc.umanitoba.ca), Native Studies Department, 443 University College, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2M8, ph. (204)474-6333, fax (204) 474-7657]