The Geospatial Web, Geospatial Ontologies, and Eastern Cree Conceptualizations of Space and Time Geneviève Reid Department of Geography McGill University, Montreal April 2019 This thesis is submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Geneviève Reid 2019 Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................. IV ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................ V RÉSUMÉ .............................................................................................................................................................. VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................................... VII CONTRIBUTION TO ORIGINAL KNOWLEDGE ........................................................................................................ IX CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORS .............................................................................................................................. X CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 RESEARCH QUESTION ............................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1.1 First Contacts with the Cree Nation of Wemindji and Defining the Research Question .............................. 4 1.1.2 Research Objectives .................................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 CASE STUDY: THE CREE NATION OF WEMINDJI, QC ........................................................................................................ 8 1.2.1 The Eastern Cree Territory: Eeyou Istchee .................................................................................................. 8 1.2.2 Eastern Cree Use of Geospatial Technologies ........................................................................................... 10 Benefits .............................................................................................................................................................. 10 Challenges .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH ..................................................................................................................................... 12 1.4 OUTLINE OF THE DISSERTATION ................................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 2: PREFACE ......................................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2: IS THE GEOWEB BETTER THAN GIS FOR INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES? ............................................ 16 2.1 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................ 16 2.2 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 2.3 INDIGENOUS CRITICAL GIS ....................................................................................................................................... 21 2.3.1 Compartmentalization and Distillation of Indigenous Knowledge ............................................................ 21 2.3.2 Failure to Consider Traditional Ways of Transmitting Knowledge ............................................................ 23 2.3.3 Exploitation of Indigenous Knowledge and Assimilation of Indigenous Systems ...................................... 25 2.4 EARLY CRITIQUES OF GIS IN INDIGENOUS CONTEXTS STILL VALID WITH THE GEOWEB .......................................................... 26 2.4.1 The Geoweb Can Continue to Perpetuate Compartmentalization and Distillation ................................... 27 2.4.2 The Geoweb Undermines Traditional Ways of Transmitting Knowledge .................................................. 29 2.4.3 The Geoweb is More Prone to Create Exploitation of Traditional Knowledge and Assimilation of Indigenous Systems than GIS ............................................................................................................................. 33 2.5 AMELIORATIONS TO THE GEOWEB ............................................................................................................................. 37 2.6 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 40 2.7 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER 3: PREFACE ......................................................................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER 3: DO GEOSPATIAL ONTOLOGIES PERPETUATE INDIGENOUS ASSIMILATION? ..................................... 52 3.1 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................ 52 3.2 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 52 3.3 UNIVERSALITY EXPRESSED IN GEOSPATIAL ONTOLOGIES ................................................................................................ 56 3.4 INDIGENOUS ONTOLOGIES VERSUS GEOSPATIAL ONTOLOGIES ......................................................................................... 62 3.4.1 Continuum between physical and mental entities .................................................................................... 63 3.4.2 Holism of physical concepts in the environment ....................................................................................... 65 3.4.3 Agency of geographic entities and natural phenomena ........................................................................... 67 3.4.4 Predominance of Relationships ................................................................................................................. 68 3.5 ALTERNATE APPROACHES TO ADDRESSING UNIVERSALITY IN ONTOLOGIES ........................................................................ 71 ii 3.6 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 76 3.7 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................... 77 CHAPTER 4: PREFACE ......................................................................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER 4: UNAVOIDABLE EXPERTISE, “TECHNOCRATIC POSITIONALITY”, AND GISCIENCE: ELICITING AN INDIGENOUS GEOSPATIAL ONTOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 87 4.1 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................ 87 4.2 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 87 4.3 TECHNOCRACY AND THE INEVITABLE EXPERTISE IN GISCIENCE ......................................................................................... 90 4.4 THE MANTLE OF EXPERTISE IN INDIGENOUS GEOSPATIAL ONTOLOGIES ............................................................................. 93 4.5 THE MANTLE OF EXPERTISE EFFECTING A RECOLONIZATION ........................................................................................... 95 4.6 METHODOLOGICALLY ADDRESSING TECHNOCRATIC POSITIONALITY WITH INDIGENOUS GEOSPATIAL ONTOLOGIES ..................... 98 4.6.1 Heuristic Approach .................................................................................................................................. 100 4.6.2 Hermeneutic Approach ........................................................................................................................... 103 4.7 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 107 4.8 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................................... 108 CHAPTER 5: PREFACE ....................................................................................................................................... 113 CHAPTER 5: NEW VISIONS OF TIME IN GEOSPATIAL ONTOLOGIES FROM INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ...................... 114 5.1 ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................................................