Where the Wind Blows Us: Practicing Critical Community Archaeology in the Canadian North by Natasha Lyons (review)

In this engaging study, Natasha Lyons draws on her work with Inuvialuit in the Canadian Western Arctic to explore the ways in which archaeology and indigenous perspectives on the past can be negotiated. The volume weaves together histories of representation and methodological and theoretical approaches within archaeology with case studies from the Inuvialuit Archaeology Partnership. This partnership includes Inuvialuit Elders, educators and cultural practitioners, as well as museum anthropologists, heritage consultants and archaeologists, and works to generate and present knowledge about Inuvialuit heritage in formats that ser ve the goals of Inuvialuit themselves. The range of partnership outputs to date is impressive, for example, the construction of replica clothing; digital resources; curriculum materials; and documentaries. This book traces the development of the relationships on which this work is founded and provides guidance for undertaking community-based heritage projects.

The book is organised into three sections - Critique, Practice, Reflection - a structure which works well with Lyons's goal of developing a 'localized critical theory' to support heritage work with indigenous communities. The first section presents an overview of the construction of historical and archaeological knowledge and relates these processes to current decolonising forces that have informed the movement towards community-centred archaeological practice. The second section concerns methodological shifts, and discusses how the Inuvialuit Archaeological Partnership has generated heritage resources. The case study material is clearly and sensitively presented, and addresses issues such as ethics, methods for vetting project data and maintaining dialogue. Of particular value is the discussion of what the author calls a 'negotiated analysis' of Inuvialuit material history. Here Lyons demonstrates how community interpretations and those of academically trained heritage professionals can come together in the 'negotiated analysis' of artefacts. The discussion of a harpoon drag reinforcement (pp. 111-13), for example, includes a standard reference image, a description of the object's physical qualities, an illustration of a sketch made by an Inuvialuk colleague showing how this item would have been used, as well as discussion of Elder responses to this piece and a quotation from an autobiography of an Inuvialuk published in the mid-twentieth century. This multilayered, inclusive approach to presenting data has much to offer. The final section of the book addresses the impact of 'alternative archaeologies' on disciplinary practice and concludes with commentary on the progress of the Inuvialuit Archaeological Partnership's work toward a truly critical Inuvialuit archaeology.

Many of the points regarding the tensions inherent in developing multi-vocal projects will be familiar to readers who have been involved in collaborative heritage work. Nonetheless, few studies exist which are based on such sustained involvement with one community. As an extended, and candid, case study of engagement work that is grounded in a thorough discussion of the literature on ethical approaches to community-based archaeology, Where the Wind Blows Us will be of interest to museum and heritage professionals, as well as to students in a number of disciplines. This particular output of the Inuvialuit Archaeological Partnership is not directly aimed at an Inuvialuit audience, though as Lyons (p. xii) notes, the categories of archaeologists and indigenous peoples are not mutually exclusive. It will nonetheless stand as a record of emerging heritage work within the Mackenzie Delta region that will be of value to Inuvialuit who are actively shaping debates about the future representation of their community's past.