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On Shifting Roles and Responsibilities in Canadian Indigenous Community-Based Language Research On Shifting Roles and Responsibilities in Canadian Indigenous Community-Based Language Research by Melissa K. Grimes Honours B.A., University of Ottawa, 2007 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Linguistics Melissa K. Grimes, 2011 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee On Shifting Roles and Responsibilities in Indigenous Community-Based Language Research by Melissa K. Grimes Honours B.A., University of Ottawa, 2007 Supervisory Committee Dr. Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins, (Department of Linguistics) Supervisor Dr. Suzanne Urbanczyk, (Department of Linguistics) Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins, (Department of Linguistics) Supervisor Dr. Suzanne Urbanczyk, (Department of Linguistics) Departmental Member In the last 20 years, linguists and community members engaged in fieldwork with endangered languages have become increasingly aware of and vocal about the ethical dilemmas that potentially can, and often do, arise in work of this nature. One result of this can be seen in the reconceptualization of best practices and methodologies in linguistic fieldwork. There is a strong push towards collaborative, community-driven, and interdisciplinary forms of research, and a concomitant shift in the roles taken on by academic and community-based researchers. The shifts in roles in turn have led academics and community-members to rethink the responsibilities associated with these roles. The purpose of this thesis is threefold: firstly, to provide a description of a highly collaborative, community-driven project involving, as one of its components, the documentation of language associated with Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK); secondly, to consider and illustrate how the relative roles of academics and community participants have shifted and thirdly, to discuss responsibilities associated with the protection of the TEK documented through this work – knowledge that would not have been documented to the same extent if the project had not been collaborative and community-driven. These topics evolved from the knowledge and guidance of Kʷakʷaka'wakʷ Clan Chief Kʷaxsistalla (Adam Dick), as well as the ethnoecological/linguistic projects that this thesis is centred on. I propose that a) collaborative research that is community-steered can be supported by the Community-Based Language Research model developed by Czaykowska-Higgins (2009), b) within this emerging research framework unconventional research roles can be assumed by all participants, c) it is important to respect and protect the Traditional Ecological Knowledge recorded in research with Indigenous experts, and d) existing systems of Intellectual Property fall short in adequately protecting and respecting TEK. I conclude this study by relating these issues to larger movements occurring within linguistics and social science and humanities research in general. I suggest a move away from subscribing to the Intellectual Property system, and towards approaching language research through a human rights framework. The result of this thesis is an analysis of collaborative community-based language research with and within an Indigenous community in Canada. It will contribute to the ongoing discussions and evaluations of changing roles and responsibilities in field research in linguistics. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ........................................................................................................ ii Abstract .....................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables............................................................................................................................ vi List of Figures .........................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgments ...............................................................................................................viii Dedication ..................................................................................................................................x PREFACE.................................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Purpose of This Study ...........................................................................................................1 1.2 Relevance of This Study .......................................................................................................3 1.3 Terminology.............................................................................................................................5 1.4 Literature Review...................................................................................................................8 1.5 The People ............................................................................................................................. 10 1.6 The Language........................................................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER TWO – CHANGES IN THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE RESEARCH PARADIGM...............................................................................................................................15 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 15 2.2 The Fragmentation of Indigenous Languages, Cultures and Lands.................... 16 2.3 Changes in the Indigenous Language Research Paradigm .................................... 19 CHAPTER 3: SHIFTING ROLES IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH: OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FIELD ...................................................................................28 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 28 3.2 T̓əkkillakʷ Restoration............................................................................................................ 32 3.2.1 Indigenous Expert Roles and Graduate Student Roles........................................ 40 3.3 P̓əǧʷǧʷayuw Curriculum .................................................................................................... 45 3.3.1 Indigenous Expert Roles and Graduate Student Roles........................................ 46 3.4 ɫəqqst̓ ən Harvest................................................................................................................... 52 3.4.1 Indigenous Expert Roles and Graduate Student Roles........................................ 53 3.5 Learning about TEK in language research.................................................................. 55 3.6 Revisiting the CBLR Model ............................................................................................... 56 3.7 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 58 CHAPTER 4: ON CHANGING RESPONSIBILITIES: TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN LANGUAGE RESEARCH.........62 4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 62 4.2 Responsibilities Surrounding Traditional Ecological Knowledge...................... 65 4.2.1 Academic Literature and Traditional Ecological Knowledge ........................... 69 v 4.2.2 Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Language Research ................................. 70 4.2.3 Traditional Ecological Knowledge in a Kʷakʷaka ̓wakʷ Context........................ 71 4.3 Issues of Ownership: TEK in the root gardens .......................................................... 72 4.3.1 Global Treatment of Traditional Ecological Knowledge .................................... 74 4.4 Responsibilities Surrounding Intellectual Property in Language Research... 77 4.4.1 Describing and Unpacking Intellectual Property ................................................. 78 4.4.2 The Economies of IP........................................................................................................ 81 4.5 International Reactions to IP and Traditional Knowledge ................................... 84 4.6 Summary ................................................................................................................................ 87 4.7 Possible Alternatives ......................................................................................................... 87 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................92 Bibliography ...........................................................................................................................95 Appendices........................................................................................................................... 103 vi List of Tables The terms listed in Table 2 and Table
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