The Aerial Subarctic

This photo essay examines aerial perspectives and drone photography in Hopedale, Nunatsiavut. It is coauthored by a Nunatsiavummiuk photographer who captures images of the land, wildlife, and community using drones and an anthropological archaeologist who conducts research in partnership with Hopedale. We open with an ethnographic vignette of the two authors going to the site of a Cold War American radar base on the hills above Hopedale to document it via drone photography. This prompts a discussion of aerial imaging in archaeological research, which has increasingly used declassified satellite imagery from militaries as well as drone photography taken by outsiders of communities that they are depicting. The authors argue that whereas archaeological drone photography in the north is often a tool of scientific visitors to document sites devoid of context, Nunatsiavummiut drone photography exceeds these aims. It is process oriented, community facing, and circumvents both militaristic and archaeological gazes by turning the drone’s eye to dynamic environments and sovereign Inuit lands. Nunatsiavummiut drone imagery creates open-ended archives that facilitate sharing knowledge about sea ice, wildlife, and community. It is a form of documentation that is accountable to place. Ultimately, we argue for more critical and collaborative visual research by archaeologists.

Archaeology · Geography · Physical geography · Subarctic climate · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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