2. Interviewing the Elders

1996 Oral Traditions Course offered at Nunavut Arctic College Interviewing Inuit Elders: Introduction The Oral History Project grew out of the Oral Traditions course held at the Iqaluit campus of Nunavut Arctic College in 1996. The College invited Inuit elders to be interviewed, in Inuktitut, by the eight students taking the course that year.(Iqaluit, 1999).

In July and August of 1997 Nunavut Arctic College's Legal Studies Program offered a rigorous six- week introductory course called 'Project Jump Start'. Eleven Inuit students from interested in a career legal studies participated in this course. An integral part of the program was the development of skills for interviewing elders. These skills were honed in the 'traditional knowledge' course where students interacted with four Inuit elders from four different regions. Transcripts from these interviews were then published as part of a series. Students worked closely with the elders in small, intimate groups. All sessions were taped so all students could access information from the diverse sessions. There was a facilator present who could ensure the comfort of the elders as well as two interpreters who provided simultaneous interpretation. Students and instructors chose the four themes to be discussed. Prior to the interviews students learned interviewing techniques which included preparation of questions for the interviews. They were required to write summaries of the interviews as well as a five page paper on the process.

In 1997 and 1998 two courses on law were organized by Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit. The 1997 course was supervised by Wim Rasing. The courses were not organized in the same format, but they complemented each other in many respects. In both courses the purpose was to interview elders about the ways in which Inuit used to maintain and preserve social order in their communities.

1998: A course on law were organized by Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit, supervised by Frédéric Laugrand and Jarich Oosten. The courses were not organized in the same format, but they complemented each other in many respects. In both courses the purpose was to interview elders about the ways in which Inuit used to maintain and preserve social order in their communities.

In 1998 course supervised by Susan Sammons and Alexina Kublu of the in the Inuit Studies Program, focused on the "question of how Inuit dealt with problems which in qallunaat society are usually dealt with by law. The goal was to explore the principles which guided behaviour; the norms and values in terms of which behaviour was assessed." ( Introduction )<