Methods for Indigenous Land‐Use and Occupancy Mapping

Living Proof: The Essential Data-Collection Guide for Indigenous Use-and-Occupancy Map Surveys. Tobias, T. N. 2009. Ecotrust Canada and Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, Vancouver, British Columbia. 467 pp. (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-896866-06-2. Since the Age of Discovery gathered pace in the 16th century, European explorers pursued territorial sovereignty over much of the rest of the world, in the process divesting indigenous peoples of their lands, heritage, and birthright. This process was legitimated through a variety of legal doctrines, including terra nullius, adverse possession, and of course, conquest. Landscape use-and-occupancy mapping (UOM) is an approach pioneered by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (Canada's national Inuit organization) more than 30 years ago to support Inuit aspirations to restore self-government and sovereignty. Landscape use and occupancy mapping (UOM) is a way to document—through cultural, spiritual, and material use of their environment—the connectedness between land and people in the face of ambiguous international law. It has been demonstrated that such knowledge often facilitates ecological management in ways that are diversified, risk-minimizing, and cost-effective (Hansen & Erbaugh 1987; Vanek 1989; Dei 1993; Beckford et al. 2010). As vividly elucidated by Solow (1993:182): “[Weak] sustainability doesn't require that any particular species of owl or any particular tract of forest be preserved.” The strong sustainability framing of much indigenous knowledge, in contrast, includes obligations “not to destroy the natural and cultural history of a place in which humans and nature have interacted to create an organic process, a process that can be understood multigenerationally” (Norton 2002:44). Living Proof is a detailed guide to contemporary UOM mapping methods, liberally illustrated with cultural insights, case studies, and high-quality illustrations. The UOM approach as developed originally by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami included surveys, interviews, and open-ended discussions to create what they termed a “map-biography,” an admittedly small slice of indigenous reality derived from living memory of land use. Geographic information systems (GIS) technologies are an important, though not mandatory, element of the approach. Indeed, many of the most interesting maps in Living Proof are hand drawn or lettered over standard topographic base maps. The maps in Living Proof fall into 4 primary categories. The aforementioned map-biography consists of a base landscape map overlaid with all the information collected from a single individual across a range of categories, including, for example, a location where a particular animal was successfully hunted or a location of spiritual significance. The map biography was the primary means used to collect data for the maps. Researchers marked icons on paper maps during interviews. These maps were digitized into a GIS format so that three other categories of maps could be constructed. Derived products are the category map (a single map of a given category of resource, e.g., fisheries); the thematic map (a single map of a set of related categories); and the hodgepodge map (a single map showing all categories at once). The map-biographies are particularly useful for intergenerational communication, combining life stories as narratives, language, culture, and spirit in very personal ways. The category and thematic maps are useful for analytic, planning, and natural resource management applications, particularly where indigenous comanagement agreements are in effect. The hodgepodge map is useful in the legal arena for demonstrating continuous use and occupancy and portrays contemporary and vital relationships to the land and a history of traditional law and custom. Sample maps are used throughout the book and range from maps of primary data to refined final products. There are also many photographs of the landscapes and peoples represented in and by the maps. Cases presented in Living Proof are primarily from Canada. Best practices for UOM are illustrated by case studies from Taku River Tlingit First Nation in the west, Miawpukek Mi'kamawey Mawi'omi in the east, and Nunavut in the north. In addition to this rich survey of applications of mapping methods, Tobias writes about his 2006 visit to Australia, where he worked with the Ngarrindjeri and Yorta Yorta peoples. In many of these cases, the maps are as interesting for the areas that are not populated by the traditional owners as for the areas that are—often these visual silences tell the story of past colonial actions (Lynch et al. 2012). The book is structured as a manual and provides detailed instructions. As well as addressing important issues of data-quality standards, survey methods, base-map choices, and confidentiality, the book addresses such details as marker nib size and removing the tab from the tape cassette. This level of detail would be tremendously useful to ensure a high-quality product regardless of level of experience, but it often appears incongruous or seems buried in such a large tome. So, what kind of book is this? On the one hand, this is beautifully presented large-format book of detailed maps, evocative photographs, and personal stories. On the other hand, this is a practical and detailed manual for developing maps of cultural and ecological land use. Unfortunately, these functions are often at odds. The large format required for the display of detailed maps and works in progress makes it difficult to work through the book as a manual for practice in UOM. As such, the book fails in the one key attribute of usability. That said, it remains, in my assessment, the best available example of a powerful methodology in both design and action.

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