Pratt, Kenneth L., and Scott A. Heyes. 2023. Memory and Landscape: Indigenous Responses to a Changing North. Athabasca : Athabasca University Press, 448 pages.

At first glance, Kenneth L. Pratt and Scott A. Heyes’ Memory and Landscape: Indigenous Responses to a Changing North gives the impression of being a beautiful coffee table book. However, its photographs, illustrations, graphics, maps, and drawings do more than simply embellish the book. They enhance Indigenous narratives and “responses to a Changing North” that are told in either the first or third person. In fact, the chapters of the book (twelve in total) are divided into three sections, each one prefaced by “perspectives” of Indigenous Peoples who share their voices and testimonies to name the relationships they nurture with their changing North, in creative ways. The other chapters follow the conventions of academic papers and are built upon the serious work and commitment of non-Indigenous scholars with northern Indigenous communities, Elders, and stories in an attempt to share and value their perspectives. The book intends to demonstrate the entanglements between the memories, homelands, and identities of Indigenous Peoples within the following geographical areas: Alaska, Arctic Canada, Greenland, and Siberia.

The three sections do not follow linear timelines or geographical areas. They rather center on different themes focusing on either Indigenous Identities through time and memories (part I), transitions or adaption and resilience in the face of changing landscapes (part II), and in-depth and original studies of place names (part III).

The first part of this book specifically explores the connections between “History and Identity” and is beautifully introduced with a poetic honouring of the land by Vinnie Baron and Félix St-Aubin. In this short text, these proud Inuuk share their profound respect and love toward the land and all beings and show that practices on the land not only still thrive today but continue to contribute to defining Indigenous lives and identities.

In the first chapter, Aron L. Crowell provides an in-depth account of Yakutat Tlingit of Southeast Alaska migration using multi-source methodologies: archeological records, oral history, and narratives from Elders (p. 50). The author investigates the points of intersection of these two ways of knowing to seek a better understanding of “what really happened” regarding the Ginix Kwäan migration from Copper River.

In the following chapter, Murielle Nagy discusses the entanglements between memories, language, and identities in Inuvialuit toponyms and ethnonyms. Drawing from two different studies conducted decades apart, Nagy examines how Inuvialuit of the Western Canadian Arctic name places and encode memories in these places in different languages and how it relates to the Inuvialuit construction of identity, memories, and emotions.

In the next chapter, through an extensive study of historical literature reviews, dictionary interpretation, reports from Elders and interviews, and personal knowledge, Robert Drozda traces the origins of two place names on Nunivak Island. He provides interesting accounts on the connection between language, stories, identity, and toponymy, and specifically on how the migrations and travels of the different Indigenous residents of the Bering Sea region may have affected the local dialects spoken in the Nunivak Island settlement (p. 82).

In chapter 4, Martha Dowsley, Scott A. Heyes, Anna Bunce, and Williams Stolz give pride of place to the voices of Inuit women that unfortunately have been largely ignored by researchers “working on human-environment relations” (p. 143). Building on interviews conducted with Inuit women, this chapter sheds light on new perspectives regarding the activity of berry harvesting, which is presented as an activity related not only to subsistence but also to well-being and harmony.

The second part of the book, “Force of Change”, is initiated with a heartwarming “perspective” by Apay’u Moore who talks with humility and honesty about the “insecurity of being Yup’ik” (p. 155). By sharing his life stories, wishes, and plans for the future with the reader, Moore sheds light on the ambiguities surrounding Indigenous identities and complex ways to live them—and through them—in modern days.

In chapter 5, Mark Nutthall explores the complex and entangled relationships of Inuit of Northwest Greenland with their environment during times of transition toward self-determination and state formation (p. 165). Interestingly, the author focusses on the concept of absence as a political, economic, cultural, and social phenomenon to highlight how well-equipped Inuit are addressing, on a practical and phenomenological level, the rapid and abrupt changes brought on by climate change.

In the following chapter, drawing from documentary and ethnographic data, Kenneth L. Pratt explains how transformation in the land and seascapes of the Yukon Delta are attributable not only to climate change but also to the enduring connections to place of the Indigenous peoples of the region. Indigenous peoples are indeed key actors of their ecosystem: by “experiencing” the environment, they contribute to building it and changing it to their image (p. 220).

In chapter 7, William E. Simeone uses the case of Copper River to exemplify how geographic systems are socially constructed and serve various ideologies, such as mapping, in Alaska, a political and colonial tool embedded in the Doctrine of Discovery and of terra nullius. In that sense, by inventing Copper River—rather than valuing local place names—settlers had a double effect, that of erasing the presence of Alaska Natives and creating a sense of familiarity for the settlers on the “newly acquired” land.

In the following chapter, Scott A. Heyes and Peter Jacobs discuss the need to develop sustainable and design approaches and planning processes in the hope that built forms meet the cultural needs and desires of Nunavimmiut (p. 264). The authors argue that architecture can be a form of artistic expression through which Inuit can (re)connect to themselves, to others, to the land, and ultimately to their identity—just as it can reflect colonial practices (p. 255).

Entering the third and last part of this book, Knowing the Land, Evon Peter takes the reader on a sensorial journey and makes us feel the embodiment of language in place, identity, and people. Language is connected to Indigenous knowledge, culture, and identity, and for that reason Peter, along with other learners, carries the responsibility to revitalize it and pass it down to younger generations by returning to the land, the teacher of “many important lessons” (p. 275).

In chapter 9, using linguistic comparative methods, Gary Holton analyzes demonstrative systems in the Inuit-Yupik and Dene languages. While orientation terms in the Inuit-Yupik family are not used on any scale beyond the immediate vicinity and have little to do with the wider landscape, they do permeate all aspects of orientation in the Dene languages, which are independent of scale. The author then suggests that these differences influence place-naming strategies and describes how demonstrative systems impact the way people think with and through these languages to name their landscape.

In chapter 10, Louann Rank provides an intimate ethnoecological understanding of the watershed of Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Her in-depth study of naming practices of settlements and waterways demonstrates that place names do embody the historical, cultural, and ecological knowledge of Yup’ik with their “landscape and its resources” (p. 313).

Trying to bridge dualisms in archeology between procedural or post-procedural and phenomenology or empiricism, Peter C. Dawson, Colleen Hughes, Donald Butler, and Kenneth Buck analyze Inuit place names from the Kivalliq region of Nunavut using sentiment analysis. The method uses computational linguistic algorithms to track the mood of a community on a particular subject based on related internet conversations. The authors put forth that attention to these affective associations may help archaeologists develop a methodology that would consider the subjective aspects of landscape in a way that addresses some of the criticisms levelled by those who are more closely aligned with empiricism.

In the final chapter, Michael A. Chlenov (translation from Russian by Kateria Wessels) builds on his research conducted in the 1970s and 80s with Yupik and Chukchi Elders by looking at Indigenous place names in the Senyavin Strait area of Chukotka. The author provides insightful information about each place name, including its etymology, description, and context of emergence which is, as Igor Krupnik states in the introduction to the chapter, invaluable information at a time of cultural and language loss.

In general, this beautiful book smartly allies many means of communication, including photography, poems, testimonies, drawings, papers, and as many methodological and disciplinary approaches to please a large range of readers—as well as please the eye. Although it may appear hard to connect the dots, as the chapters are written by different authors from various disciplines and working in various areas in the (sub)Arctic, I believe that the editors have accomplished their goal. Here, Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples and researchers of the North brilliantly expose how relationships to the land are vital to understanding Indigenous identities and how this relationship must be located in time (Pratt and Heyes 2023, 3).