Inuit social studies: A variant on a common theme

Abstract

In a social studies methods course I taught to Inuit students (all teacher-trainees) in the Kitikmeot region of Canada’s Northwest Territories, I tried to mediate between the knowledge and professional skills required of a social studies teacher as these are presented in a methods textbook written for a mainstream readership and the knowledge brought to the course by the students. We used among other things three devices which are often used in the teaching of social studies: the genealogy the concept web and the time line. In applying each of these devices we tried to organize our work so that ‘Inuit knowledge’ was given the same or greater weight than ‘non-Inuit knowledge’. By using as referents a standard methods text primary documentary materials and oral histories we situated ‘Inuit knowledge’ within the framework of social studies methods.