Nunavut Arctic College and the Mobilization of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in Nunavut Research: A Systematic Review of Research Literature (1996 – 2022)

Abstract

Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) and its research division, Nunavut Research Institute (NRI), regulate and shape research conducted in Nunavut under the Nunavut Scientists Act, while Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) has become an increasingly prominent framework for how that research is conceived and carried out. To assess how these institutional roles and the mobilization of IQ are represented in the scholarly record, we conducted a systematic literature review of 3681 Nunavut-based research records published between 1996 and 2022. Beyond their regulatory function, we found that NAC and the NRI also facilitate research through infrastructure and support, production and dissemination of research materials, and directly by conducting research while building community research capacity, roles that are substantially underreported in published outputs: only 50.4% of records confirmed as products of NRI-licensed research disclosed this licensing in their text, and just 61.5% of the corpus referenced NAC or the NRI in any context at all. IQ appeared in 36.6% of records spanning 41 distinct themes. Mentions of this term, which were tied specifically to research methods and methodologies, doubled in the research since 2008. We interpret these patterns as consistent with a research-licensing framework that has served a dual function: offering a familiar point of entry for southern-trained researchers, while progressively displacing practices that are non-consensual, extractive, paternalistic, or exclusionary; and embedding Inuit ethics and priorities into research planning and practice. As the first review of its scope conducted in Nunavut, this study demonstrates that the institutional influence of NAC and NRI on research extends well beyond what is documented in the published record, and that the Nunavut research literature is emerging as a viable, though still partial, pathway for the transmission of IQ.