“The World has Changed”: Ialit Traditional Knowledge of Walrus in the Bering Strait North Pacific Research Board Project 1013 Kawerak, Inc., (907) 443-4273,
[email protected] Brenden Raymond-Yakoubian Lawrence Kaplan Meghan Topkok, Kawerak, Inc. Julie Raymond-Yakoubian, Kawerak, Inc. North Pacific Research Board Project Final Report 2014 (Revised 2015) 1 Abstract 2 This project documented, through a multidisciplinary approach, Little Diomede experts’ local and 3 traditional ecological and cultural knowledge of Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), and 4 examined the “cultural-ecological relationship” between walruses and people to document a variety of 5 changes and adjustments in both walrus and human populations over time. This project was set within a 6 context of increasing concerns over changes and threats to walrus, their environment, and indigenous 7 people whose lifeways are tied to their relationships to walrus populations. Additionally, it was set within 8 a context of limited existing bio-ecological and anthropological knowledge of Diomede human-walrus 9 relationships; of a concern for the need to better interface local traditional knowledge with western 10 science, policy, and management; and of a desire amongst Little Diomede people to document their 11 knowledge and language relating to walrus. Through archival research, linguistic and ethnographic 12 interviews, and synthesis of data from other important ongoing projects, this project synthesized and 13 analyzed archival data and over 50 ethnographic, mapping, and linguistic interviews with 19 indigenous 14 experts on Diomede and walrus. This work was conducted with the ongoing consent and participation of 15 the Little Diomede community, and was accomplished through the work of a multidisciplinary project 16 team over a three-year period.