Course Description:
This course introduces students to Inuit land-based learning through critical, experiential and relational approaches. Students will engage with Inuit knowledge systems, histories and contemporary realities, culminating in a land-based learning experience in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Through readings, reflection and community-engaged practice, students will explore relationships to land, responsibility and ethical engagement.
Required Qualifications:
Students must be an Inuk Beneficicary of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. Preference will be given to students who remain in good academic standing.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Articulate the principles of Indigenous land-based learning and describe how relationships to land, community, and knowledge shape learning experiences.
- Critically analyze texts and narratives to understand the cultural, historical and environmental contexts of Arctic Indigenous communities.
- Reflect on their own positionality and responsibilities as learners engaging with Indigenous knowledge, acknowledging power, privilege and relational accountability.
- Demonstrate respectful engagement in land-based and community settings, applying protocols, listening skills and ethical practices during experiential learning activities.
- Observe and document land-based experiences through reflective journaling, connecting observations to course concepts and Indigenous ways of knowing.
- Synthesize experiential, textual and theoretical learning into a creative or critical project that demonstrates understanding of relationality, sustainability and Indigenous knowledge systems.
- Apply lessons learned from Arctic land-based learning to broader social, environmental and ethical contexts, considering implications for future learning, research and practice.
Please fill out the 2026 Application Form for INDG 4015 Exchange for this course and submit below.