Traditional Knowledge

Denésuliné hunters range from deep in the Boreal Forest far into the tundra of northern Canada. Henry S. Sharp, a social anthropologist and ethnographer, spent several decades participating in fieldwork and observing hunts by this extended kin group. His daughter, Karyn Sharp, who is an archaeologist specializing in First Nations Studies and is Denésuliné, also observed countless hunts.

Wolf and Man: Evolution in Parallel is a collection of papers that discusses certain crucial attributes of humans including traits that are shared with other social predators. Some papers describe the wolf as the equal of man—the animal is a social hunter of large game, disregards human boundaries and properties, and consume livestock when it is necessary. The wolf's will to survive is as great as that of man, and brings along many resources to the competition. Several papers review the behavior and culture of man, wolf, dog, and the Chipewyan people who hunted caribou.

In the 1990s, news stories began to circulate about declining caribou populations in the North. Were caribou the canary in the coal mine for climate change, or did declining numbers reflect overharvesting by Indigenous hunters or failed attempts at scientific wildlife management?

This book examines the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and how it can provide models for a time-tested form of sustainability needed in the world today. The essays, written by a team of scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, explore TEK through compelling cases of environmental sustainability from multiple tribal and geographic locations in North America and beyond. Addressing the philosophical issues concerning indigenous and ecological knowledge production and maintenance, they focus on how environmental values and ethics are applied to the uses of land.

This report reflects current documented Tłı̨chǫ knowledge and perspectives in which wolves live in an environment that includes Tłı̨chǫ and caribou.

This study is a part of a study on contaminants in a northern terrestrial environment. It is well recognized that a wealth of traditional knowledge (TK) exist about the ecology of caribou, and that TK may illuminate the contaminants’ study. On the other hand, a lot of TK has never been documented yet. The goal of the contaminants study was to investigate if fluorinated hydrocarbons (Perfluorocarboxylic acids [PFCAs] and Perfluorosulfonates [PFSAs]) bio-magnify in the terrestrial food system.

We examine the historical relationship between humans and wolves as illustrated through stories of North American Indigenous Peoples, especially the Great Plains and Intermountain West, exemplified by Cheyenne, Lakota, Blackfoot, Pawnee, and Shoshone peoples. Indigenous stories have not been employed in scholarly examinations of the origins of ‘dogs’. These tribal peoples were tough and resilient and wanted companion animals as tough and resilient as themselves.

This book brings together a complete a record of traditional Yup’ik rule and ritual as possible in the late twentieth century. I have tried to highlight recurrent themes, meanings, and metaphors to convey what is unique to the Yup’ik view of the world.

Ekwǫ̀ Nàxoède K’è is a Bathurst caribou monitoring program based upon the Traditional Knowledge (TK) of Tłı̨chǫ and Inuit indigenous elders and harvesters. The new name for the program, Ekwǫ̀ Nàxoède K’è, replaces its previous name Boots on the Ground. Ekwǫ̀ Nàxoède K’è was chosen by the Tłı̨chǫ program advisors, and means “in the migration of caribou,” and everything that relates to them. The objectives are to monitor the conditions of Bathurst caribou herd on the summer range, focusing on four key indicators: (1) habitat; (2) caribou; (3) predators, and (4) industrial development. 

This chapter will attempt to explore the significance of wolf recovery in the western Great Lakes region to one group of people – those known to others as the Ojibwe or Chippewa, and to themselves as the Anishinabe. It is not written by an Ojibwe, but by an individual who has had the pleasure and privilege of working with and for the Ojibwe for over two decades. It does not purport to extend the concepts discussed to other Native American nations – even those others residing in the western Great Lakes region – though in some cases there will be similarities.