Co-producing maps as boundary objects: Bridging Labrador Inuit knowledge and oceanographic research

Abstract

ABSTRACT Climate change is affecting the marine environment in Nunatsiavut, leading to changing sea ice thickness and seasonal timing, and increasing water temperatures. This impacts the lives of Labrador Inuit, whose culture, economy, and history are deeply tied to marine spaces. Recently, research partnerships involving Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut have increased, creating space for Labrador Inuit in large scale marine research agendas. While including Labrador Inuit knowledge is critical for making research relevant to communities, there are challenges to engaging it alongside oceanographic scientific knowledge, as both stem from unique ontologies, at times having different values, scales, and languages of understanding. Boundary work offers a lens to analyze how boundary objects can foster connections between Labrador Inuit knowledge and oceanographic research. This research offers a conceptual exploration of this subject through analysing the co-production of maps representing Labrador Inuit knowledge of ocean features which, as data, were then applied in oceanographic research problems. Framing these maps as boundary objects demonstrates their utility in mobilizing Inuit knowledge into scientific approaches, acknowledging limitations with respect to knowledge that cannot be spatially rendered.