The International Arctic Research Center and the College of Rural and Community Development co-host a virtual seminar series called A Place for Knowledge Exchange. March’s conversation is with Sonia Natalie Ibarra and Craig Chythlook on how the Tamamta program at the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences uplifts Indigenous Knowledge. Ibarra is Tamamta’s Program Coordinator and Postdoctoral Fellow while Chythlook is a Tamamta Fellow.

Speaker bios:
Dr. Sonia Natalie Ibarra Marquez is Apache, Caxcan, Mexican, Latina and grew up in the traditional territories of the Nomlaki people in Northern California. She obtained her bachelors in Marine Biology at Humboldt State University in 2008 with minors in SCUBA diving. Between her bachelors and PhD, she worked as a scientific diver and field researcher in the Philippines, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Belize, and the southern California Channel Islands. She received her Fisheries PhD from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2021, where she received two prestigious NSF awards (GRFP & IGERT). Her Phd work (2012-2021) focused on co-creating a project with Tribes and Indigenous youth in Southeast Alaska to weave Indigenous and Western knowledge systems and document a holistic picture of the deep relationship between Indigenous people, sea otters, and shellfish. She is currently the Tamamta Program Coordinator and Postdoctoral Fellow.

Craig Chythlook is Yup’ik, originally from the Bristol Bay region in southwest Alaska. Craig’s parents are Joe and Molly Chythlook from Dillingham, AK. Craig has spent his life fishing for salmon on the waters of Bristol Bay. Craig’s current work is looking at what evaluation criteria are used to measure success while observing salmon, salmon management, and how to utilize Indigenous values and place-based knowledge into resource management decision-making. Craig graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a business administration degree and a minor in rural development. While attending UAF, Craig spent three and a half years participating in undergraduate research studying how better access to water utility services impact subsistence activities. Craig’s research interests include how the Bristol Bay communities can better include Indigenous and place-based knowledge into state and federal decision-making spaces, regarding salmon/resource management.

About A Place for Knowledge Exchange

The A Place for Knowledge Exchange seminar series provides monthly conversations about collaborative approaches to research, education and real-life community-based practices in rural Alaska. As part of the series, CRCD and IARC hold quarterly collaboration brunches for faculty interested in building stronger ties between the two organizations. Save the date for IARC’s first brunch on April 5 from 10 am to noon.

The seminar and brunches are being facilitated by:

• Josie Sam, Assistant Professor, Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development and International Arctic Research Center
• Jessica Black, Associate Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education
• Sonta Roach, Assistant Professor, Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development
• Margaret Rudolf, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Arctic Research Center