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Coming Together to Learn
Coming Together to Learn is a planning grant that is a partnership between the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), First Alaskans Institute, and the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island. The project team aims to come together to transform how research is conceived, designed, and implemented. They also strive to build and strengthen the relationships necessary to ethically and meaningfully engage western and Indigenous scientists fully in collaborative research processes.
The Aleut Community of St Paul (ACSPI) Island has a long history of strategic hiring, planning, local environmental management, and research as part of efforts to exercise tribal sovereignty and self-determination. They have adopted strong expectations and guidance that researchers give back to the community in meaningful ways. They have a community of strong Indigenous leaders, from youth to Elders, who are the experts of their ecosystems, yet are often prevented from leading research and management because of federal oversight, funding restrictions and conventions, and general dominance of external agencies and academic researchers in this work.
This planning project has been shaped to support the Tribe to advance their goals. The project facilitates workshops on-island to enable the community to provide input in culturally appropriate ways. The project team and their colleagues engage in difficult conversations to open up space for learning for the wider science community. First Alaskans Institute hosts multi-day racial equity dialogues and trainings for UAF scientists and ACSPI staff. These dialogues are transformative for shifting perspectives and enabling real change in how research is conducted. This project is helping the team to collectively establish guidance and protocols for resetting and reshaping relationships between Tribes and communities and external researchers, managers, policy makers and other groups.
For more information, please contact Courtney Carothers clcarothers@alaska.edu.
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