NUTTALL, Mark, 1998, Protecting the Arctic, Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Survival, Amsterdam, Harwood Academic Publishers, 193 pages.

Mark Nuttall's opening sentences of his book, Protecting the Arctic, identify internationalization as an important trend in the Arctic: "The global quest for natural resources, the expansion of capitalist markets and influence of transnational practices on the periphery has resulted in the internationalization of the circumpolar north" (p. 1). Ironically, in the wake of the United States' recent war on Iraq, it seems that internationalization is in peril. Some argue that a major consequence of that war was to "put the final nail in the coffin of the dream of global citizenship that began more than a half century ago with the founding of the United Nations" (Rieff 2003). The fate of internationalism is just the opposite in the Arctic, however, where multinational organizations, like the Arctic Council and the Northern Forum, have grown even stronger and more energetic in recent years. The Council's most recent report, published in February 2003, identifies a number of ongoing projects, including plans to eliminate pollution, promote biodiversity and the sustainable use of natural resources, and enhance economic and social well-being — all through international cooperation. It is these trends and their affects on Indigenous peoples and the Arctic environment that guides Nuttall's investigation. Nuttall states that his objective is not to provide a detailed exegesis of any particular group or topic, but "to stimulate debate and lay the groundwork for future research and analysis" (p. 1). Protecting the Arctic is a collection of essays on overlapping topics (environmental protection, indigenous environmentalism, indigenous environmental knowledge, indigenous rights). His decision to write a survey was motivated by the proliferation of international organizations, agreements, and research projects that require a different set of analytical tools than those used in community-based ethnography. Nuttall, a seasoned anthropologist/ethnographer with research experience in Asia, Europe and North America, does a good job of mapping out the current state of affairs through the activities of these organizations, particularly how they have aligned themselves with an indigenous-initiated environmental activism. Despite his claims that Protecting the Arctic is merely a vehicle for future research and analysis, Nuttall does analyze the activities of these organizations and he critiques certain core concepts used by them, including indigenous knowledge or traditional environmental knowledge (TEK). Definitions of TEK abound, and it is now referred to extensively in the arena of public policy, applied research and international agreements. Nuttall argues that TEK has both positive and negative consequences for indigenous peoples, particularly with respect to cultural survival. On the positive side, it has allowed indigenous peoples to become more involved in the process of scientific research and natural resource management. A common policy of many regulatory bodies is to consult with indigenous elders and other TEK experts when making key decisions, especially those concerning which resources need to be managed, and what strategies, if any, are necessary to ensure sustainable yields of those resources. On the negative side, TEK has legitimized some forms of local knowledge at the expense of others. In the process of its codification and implementation, TEK has narrowed the range of "data" that counts as knowledge and rendered other forms obsolete or inconsequential. TEK virtually ignores those features of everyday life that provide much-needed cultural context for understanding how knowledge is produced and transmitted, things like myths, songs, jokes, stories, memories of specific places and events, emotions, interactions, etc. These are the building blocks of local knowledge (i.e. memoryscapes) that unites animals and humans, spirits and God, the past, present, and future in a complex and everchanging world shaped by forces that are "natural" and/or "supernatural." Equating TEK with a narrow body …