The Meaning of Walls: Learning within Walls in an Arctic Hamlet

Join us for a lively discussion about the walls we do not see right in front of us. About this Event:Walls are a mundane, often invisible, but fundamental part of our lives, which means they offer fruitful avenues for consideration. In this talk, I consider the multiple meanings of walls. This turns something taken-for-granted into an object which unveils hidden power relations, expressions of identity, and the way walls can either maintain the landscape of our lives, or interrupt life-as-it-was. This is especially the case when colonizers bring changes in housing. Inuit living in Arviat, Nunavut, work at perpetually enacting and fortifying their unique way of viewing the world. Being “walled-in” has a profound effect on the transmission of knowledge in two ways. First, walls inhibit traditional disciplining of children. Second, walls change the transmission of skilled knowledge in gendered ways.