Research Processes and Indigenous Communities in Western Alaska

Research activities have become a regular occurrence in northern indigenous community life, a major factor influencing policy and management affecting these communities, and a source of various community impacts (positive, negative, and otherwise). Research processes span across the disciplines, including work in the natural sciences (e.g. physical oceanographic work, climatological research, fisheries and marine mammal research) as well as the social sciences (e.g. ethnographic studies, socioeconomic impact studies, and harvest survey research). This research may have commercial, academic, management, policy, advocacy, and other impetuses.