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

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.

Managing consequences of climate‐driven species redistribution requires integration of ecology, conservation and social science

“…The distributions and relative abundances of species within their historic ranges have been central to the knowledge of Indigenous peoples, including not only sedentary communities, but also mobile communities such as nomads, pastoralists, shifting agriculturalists and hunter‐gatherers (Kawagley, ; Sheridan & Longboat, ; Arctic Council, ; Mustonen & Lehtinen, ). Maintaining relatively intact ecosystems is crucial to the preservation of livelihoods, cosmologies, cultures and languages of these groups, and many have developed governance systems for their biological resources based on holistic observations and checks‐and‐balances to prevent overharvesting (Huntington, ; Mustonen, ; Mustonen & Mustonen, ). Alterations in species ranges and relative abundances due to climate change will have profound consequences for these governance systems.…”

Skolt Sámi and Atlantic Salmon Collaborative Management of Näätämö Watershed, Finland as a Case of Indigenous Evaluation and Knowledge in the Eurasian Arctic

“…During the summer field season, they recorded their observations with digital cameras, and shared them with the science team. The potential of this new field method of “visual‐optic histories,” similar to photo‐ethnography, which has been discussed elsewhere (Mustonen, ). Visual histories stress the agency of the Indigenous experts on the land in knowledge self‐production.…”

“…Visual histories stress the agency of the Indigenous experts on the land in knowledge self‐production. It led to the detection of new species arriving in the ecosystem, for example, the first appearance of southern Potosia cuprea scarabaeid beetle (Mustonen, ). This was first recorded as a significant “event” in the Skolt world and was documented using oral history.…”

Citizen Science Tools for Engaging Local Stakeholders and Promoting Local and Traditional Knowledge in Landscape Stewardship

“…The project co-ordinators visited the teams in April, June-July and early October. During these visits, the monitoring data were collected and oral histories were recorded (Mustonen 2015).…”