Skip to main content
Log in

Communal visual histories to detect environmental change in northern areas: Examples of emerging North American and Eurasian practices

Ambio Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article explores the pioneering potential of communal visual-optic histories which are recorded, painted, documented, or otherwise expressed. These materials provide collective meanings of an image or visual material within a specific cultural group. They potentially provide a new method for monitoring and documenting changes to ecosystem health and species distribution, which can effectively inform society and decision makers of Arctic change. These visual histories can be positioned in a continuum that extends from rock art to digital photography. They find their expressions in forms ranging from images to the oral recording of knowledge and operate on a given cultural context. For monitoring efforts in the changing boreal zone and Arctic, a respectful engagement with visual histories can reveal emerging aspects of change. The examples from North America and case studies from Eurasia in this article include Inuit sea ice observations, Yu’pik visual traditions of masks, fish die-offs in a sub-boreal catchment area, permafrost melt in the Siberian tundra and early, first detection of a scarabaeid beetle outbreak, a Southern species in the Skolt Sámi area. The pros and cons of using these histories and their reliability are reviewed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

References

  • Agrawal, A. 2002. Indigenous knowledge and the politics of classification. International Social Science Journal 54: 287–297. doi:10.1111/1468-2451.00382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arctic Council. 2013. Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. Cited February 5, 2013, from www.arcticbiodiversity.is.

  • Arnold, C., W. Stephenson, B. Simpson, and Z. Ho. 2011. Taimani—At that time. Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. Inuvik: Inuvialuit Timeline Visual Guide.

    Google Scholar 

  • Autio, E. 1981. Karjalan kalliopiirrokset. Helsinki: Otava.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, T., and T. Lantz. 2014. Participatory photo-mapping: A method for documenting, contextualizing and sharing Indigenous observations of environmental conditions. Polar Geography 37: 28–47. doi:10.1080/1088937X.2013.873089.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes, F. 1999. Sacred ecology—Traditional ecological knowledge and resource management. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, C., and Hallam, S.J. 2006. A review of Archaeology and Rock Art in the Dampier Archipelago. A Report prepared for the National Trust of Australia (WA), September 2006. Final draft.

  • Carlsson, L., and F. Berkes. 2005. Co-management: Concepts and methodological implications. Journal of Environmental Management 75: 65–76. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2004.11.008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Couzin, J. 2007. Opening doors to native knowledge. Science 315: 1518. doi:10.1126/science.315.5818.1518.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cruikshank, J., A. Sidney, K. Smith, and A. Ned. 1997. Life lived like a story—Life stories of three Yukon Native Elders. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cruikshank, J. 2005. Do glaciers listen—Local knowledge, colonial encounters & social imagination. Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dick, J., J. Stepenson, R. Kirikiri, H. Moller, and R. Turner. 2012. Listening to kaitiaki: Consequences of the loss of abundance and biodiversity of coastal ecosystems in Aotearoa New Zealand. MAI Journal 1: 117–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dictionary.com. 2015. Cited April 15, 2015.

  • Dora, V. 2013. Topia: Landscape before linear perspective. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 103: 688–709. doi:10.1080/00045608.2011.652882.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eber, D. 1975. People from our side—A life story with photographs by Peter Pitseolak. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eicken, H., M. Kaufman, I. Krupnik, P. Pulsifier, L. Apangalook, P. Apangalook, W. Weyapuk, and J. Leavitt. 2014. A framework and database for community sea ice observations in a changing Arctic: An Alaskan prototype for multiple users. Polar Geography 37: 5–27. doi:10.1080/1088937X.2013.873090.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fidel, M., A. Kliskey, L. Alessa, and O. Suttom. 2014. Walrus harvest locations reflect adaptation: A contribution from a community-based observation network in the Bering Sea. Polar Geography 37: 48–68. doi:10.1080/1088937X.2013.879613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fienup-Riordan, A. 1996. Agayuliyararput—Our way of making prayer: The living tradition of Yup’ik Masks. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fienup-Riordan, A. 2014. Linking local and global: Yu’pik elders working together with one mind. Polar Geography 37: 92–109. doi:10.1080/1088937X.2014.881429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox-Gearheard, S., L.K. Holm, H. Huntington, J.M. Leavitt, A. Mahoney, M. Opie, T. Oshima, and J. Sanguya. 2013. The meaning of ice: People and sea ice in three Arctic communities. Hanover: International Polar Institute Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis, D. 1996. Copying people 1860–1940: Photographing British Columbian First Nations. Saskatoon: Fifth House Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, H. et al. 2013. Provisioning and Cultural Services in a book Arctic Council. 2013. Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. Arctic Council. Cited February 5, 2013, from www.arcticbiodiversity.is.

  • Hyönteistietokanta. 2013. Finnish entomological database, Hyönteistietokanta. Accessed May 15, 2014, from http://hyonteiset.luomus.fi/insects/main/EntDatabase.html.

  • Jeffries, M., J. Overland, and D. Perovich. 2013. The Arctic shifts to a new normal. Physics Today 66: 35. doi:10.1063/PT.3.2147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jochelson, W. 1926/1975. The Yukaghir and the Yukaghirized Tungus. New York: American Museum of Natural History and AMS.

  • Kendall, L., B. Mathé, and T. Miller. 1997. Drawing shadows to stone—The photography of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 1897–1902. New York: American Museum of Natural History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kii7iljuus, and H. Harris. 2005. Tllsda Xaaydas K’aaygang.nga: Long, long Ago Haida Ancient Stories. In Haida Gwaii—Human history and environment from the Time of the Loon to the Time of the Iron People, ed. D. Fedje, and R. Mathewes. Vancouver: UBC Press.

  • Kumpula, T., B.C. Forbes, and F. Stammler. 2006. Combining data from satellite images and Reindeer Herders in Arctic Petroleum Development: The case of Yamal, West Siberia. Nordia Geographical Publications 35: 17–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumpula, T., B.C. Forbes, and F. Stammler. 2010. Remote sensing and local knowledge of hydrocarbon exploitation: The case of Bovanenkovo, Yamal Peninsula, West Siberia. Russia. Arctic 63: 165–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehtinen, A., and T. Mustonen. 2013. Arctic earthviews: Cyclic passing of knowledge among the Indigenous communities of the Eurasian North. Sibirica 12: 39–55.

  • Lehtola, V. 1997. Saamelaiset—Historia, yhteiskunta, taide. Jyväskylä: Gummerus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhta, J. 2009. Tähtiyöt. Hämeenlinna: Maahenki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lukkarinen, R. 2007. Julia Widgrenin jalustanjäljillä—Vaasa nyt ja sata vuotta sitten. Vaasa: Pohjanmaan museon julkaisuja no. 35.

  • Macdonald, J. 2000. The Arctic Sky—Inuit Astronomy, Starlore and Legend. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madine, C. 2012. Progress of the Solar Panel Project: Summer 2012. A Project Report. London: Arkleton Trust. Report available from the Arkleton Trust, UK.

  • Molen, F. 2003. Not in between: Lyric painting, visual history and the postcolonial future. The Drama Review 47: 127–143.

  • Murtomäki, E. 2008. Kameramme luonnon rippeillä. Jyväskylä: Lumo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mustonen, T. 2009. Karhun väen ajast-aikojen avartuva avara. Joensuu: University of Joensuu Press.

  • Mustonen, T. 2012. Rebirth of Indigenous Arctic Nations and polar resource management: Critical perspectives from Siberia and Sámi areas of Finland. Biodiversity. doi:10.1080/14888386.2012.725652.

  • Mustonen, T. 2013. Oral histories as a baseline of landscape restoration—Co-management and watershed knowledge in Jukajoki River. Fennia 191: 76–91. doi:10.11143/7637.

  • Mustonen, T. 2014. Power discourses of fish death: Case of linnunsuo peat production. AMBIO 43: 234–243. doi:10.1007/s13280-013-0425-3.

  • Mustonen T., and P. Feodoroff. 2013. Ponoi and Neiden collaborative management plan. Kontiolahti: Snowchange Cooperative.

  • Mustonen, T., and K. Mustonen. 2009. It has been in our blood for years and years that we are salmon fishermen—A book of oral history from Unalakleet, Alaska, USA. Kontiolahti: Snowchange Cooperative.

  • Mustonen, T., and K. Mustonen. 2011. Eastern Sámi Atlas. Kontiolahti: Snowchange Cooperative.

  • Mustonen, T., and K. Mustonen. 2013. Vaara-Karjalan kulttuuriperintöhanke 2011–2013. Kontiolahti: Snowchange Cooperative.

  • Mustonen T., and E. Syrjämäki. 2013. It is the Sámi who own the land—Sacred landscapes and oral histories of the Jokkmokk Sámi. Kontiolahti: Snowchange Cooperative.

  • Nadasdy, P. 2003. Hunters and bureaucrats: Power, knowledge, and aboriginal-state relations in the Southwest Yukon. Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norrman, L. 1949. Inok. Stockholm: Bonnier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posey, D. (ed.). 1999. Cultural and spiritual values of biodiversity—A complementary contribution to the Global Biodiversity Assessment. Nairobi: UNEP.

  • Pretty, J. 2011. Interdisciplinary progress in approaches to address social–ecological and ecocultural systems. Environmental Conservation 38: 127–139. doi:10.1017/S0376892910000937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pulsifier, P., H. Huntington, and G. Peci. 2014. Introduction: Local and traditional knowledge and data management in the Arctic. Polar Geography 37: 1–4. doi:10.1080/1088937X.2014.894591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puranen, J. 1999. Imaginary Homecoming. Oulu: Pohjoinen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savard, D. 2010. Images from the Likeness House. Victoria: Royal BC Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawatzky, M. 2013. Voices in the woods: A study of forest use in eastern Manitoba. Joensuu: Publications of the University of Eastern Finland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaktova, N., I. Semiletov, A. Salyuk, V. Yusupov, D. Kosmach, and Ö. Gustafsson. 2010. Extensive methane venting to the atmosphere from sediments of the east Siberian Arctic Shelf. Science 327: 2010. doi:10.1126/Science.1182221.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheridan, J., and R.D. Longboat. 2006. The Haudenosaunee Imagination and the Ecology of the Sacred. Space and Culture 9: 365–381. doi:10.1177/1206331206292503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon, S. 1982. Fort McPherson, N.W.T.—A pictorial account of family, church and community. Whitehorse: Council for Yukon Indians and the Government of Yukon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Survo, V. 2008. Kirjottua historiaa. In Rajantakaista Karjalaa, ed. I. Lehtinen. National Board of Antiquities: Helsinki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timofeyeva, T. 2011. Nikolai Kurilov: Grafika. Yakutsk: National Art Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Umholtz, D. 1987. Kalvak/Emerak Memorial Catalogue. Holman: Canada Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valkeapää, N.-A. 1991. Beaivi, Áhcázan. Vaasa: DAT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuorelainen, M. 1990. Lapin kuvat. Helsinki: SKS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, K.M., S.A. Zimov, J.P. Chanton, D. Verbyla, and F.S. Chapin. 2006. Methane bubbling from Siberian thaw lakes as a positive feedback to climate warming. Nature 443: 71–75. doi:10.1038/nature05040.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wehi, P.M., H. Whaanga, and T. Roa. 2009. Missing in translation: Maori language and oral tradition in scientific analyses of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Journal of Royal Society of New Zealand 39: 201–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weyapuk Jr. W., and I. Krupnik. 2012. Wales Inupiaq Sea Ice Dictionary—Kinikmi Sigum Qunaq Illitavuut. Washington, DC: Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This article has been made possible by the Turvetuotanto ja vesistön vaikutusten hallinta Relevanteist faktoista tehokkaisiin normeihin/WATER MANAGEMENT AND PEAT PRODUCTION: From the Relevant Facts to Effective Norms (WAPEAT) (Suomen Akatemian hanke 263465) Project. The author is thankful to Ari Lehtinen, Jules Pretty, Pauliina Feodoroff and Kaisu Mustonen and anonymous reviewers for comments regarding the article. The article is dedicated to the memory of Skolt Sámi reindeer herder Illep Jefremoff.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tero Mustonen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mustonen, T. Communal visual histories to detect environmental change in northern areas: Examples of emerging North American and Eurasian practices. Ambio 44, 766–777 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-015-0671-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-015-0671-7

Keywords

Navigation