Iñupiat have specific scientific knowledges of our homeland and its changes over time that complement and extend western science. We have this traditional knowledge documented in various ways and stored in homes, schools, and organizational buildings. However, these collections are scattered and at risk of loss from housing and building insecurity, deteriorating infrastructure, mold, inadequate storage, and environmental crises. Making accessible digital versions of these knowledges is imperative. Creating digital archives is one part of the solution, increasing local capacities for digital archiving and data literacies is another.

The Rematriation Project—led by Aqqaluk Trust, an Inuit-led and Inuit-serving organization in the frontline community of Kotzebue, Alaska, in partnership with a team of scholars from Virginia Tech (itself led by an Iñupiaq scholar from Kotzebue)—aims to create capacity for and access to digital archives related to Inuit cultural, tribal, and scientific knowledges and history to assist tribes and local communities in developing localized, culturally appropriate approaches and solutions to their own self-determined needs, such as climate change.