“Inuit History in Northern Greenland: Fragility and Resilience”
by
Christyann Darwent, Professor of Archaeology, UC Davis
at
Pena Archaeology Facility (607 Pena Dr. Suite 600; Davis, CA and via Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84956957687?pwd=zG5MbOh8JiuysD3jD1AwKHvizT17PA.1
The Annual Meeting will be conducted in person at the U.C. Davis Pena Archaeology Facility (607 Pena Dr. Suite 600; Davis, CA), and broadcasted via Zoom starting at 2:00 PM PT with a presentation by Christyann Darwent, UCD Professor, and formally conclude after the SAS Annual Meeting. After which all attendees are invited to attend a dinner to socialize at Symposium Restaurant, Davis at 6:00 PM.
The schedule for the event is as follows:
1:00 – Set up, meet and greet (If you are unable to attend in person, you may join the webinar starting as early as 1:45 PM.)
2:00 – Featured talk “Inuit cultures in the Arctic” by Christyann Darwent
3:30 – SAS Annual Meeting
6:00 – Socialize at restaurant
Title: “Inuit History in Northern Greenland: Fragility and Resilience ” by Christyann Darwent
Abstract: Human history of the North American Arctic has been a cycle of expansions and contractions, of mobility and migration, and of fragility and resilience. Archaeology brings a long-term perspective to the relationship between humans and the arctic environment. More recently, however, the face of archaeological research and knowledge production has undergone rapid change, particularly in the past decade. Just as geneticists and isotopic chemists have discovered the wealth of information locked in the archaeological record of the arctic, these formerly frozen sites are rapidly melting or eroding into the sea. In addition, Inuit scholars and communities are redefining their relationship with archaeology and archaeologists. Based on the author’s own field work, this talk focuses on the historical ecology of Smith Sound at the northern edge of what is now Canada and Greenland. New questions and new methods have enhanced our understanding of a place that exemplifies both isolation and long-distance social bonds, precariousness and resilience.
About the Speaker: Dr. Christyann Darwent is a professor of Anthropology at UC Davis. She is originally from Calgary where she completed her undergraduate degree in archaeology and undertook her first of several field seasons in the Canadian High Arctic 30 years ago. After receiving her MA at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and a PhD from the University of Missouri, she started her career at UC Davis in 2001. Since then, she has conducted NSF-sponsored archaeological excavations in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska and Inglefield Land, NW Greenland. For the past decade her lab has also been conducting archaeological research near the Native village of Shaktoolik in Norton Sound, Alaska. In addition to studies of past subsistence practices and social organization among Inuit, Inughuit, Inupiaq, and Yup’ik occupants of the Arctic over the past 1000 years, she has published on the history of Inuit sled dogs using ancient and modern DNA.
