Research builds a cultural bridge across continents
Community-engaged research helps to link Inuit youth in the Canadian Arctic with Indigenous Vedda communities in Sri Lanka to share knowledge, strengthen resilience, and address shared climate and health challenges.
As Sithuni Mimasha shared images of Indigenous communities in Sri Lanka with Inuit in Pangnirtung, Nunavut, the reaction was immediate. Despite living thousands of miles apart, the youth quickly saw themselves in one another’s lives.
When the presentation ended, conversation flowed. Questions revealed a shared reality: communities in vastly different environments face many of the same challenges.
“What stood out to me most is exactly what we hope for—knowledge should be shared,” Mimasha said. “We should learn from one another and grow together.”
Mimasha, a doctoral student in Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, traveled to the Arctic with her advisor, Eranga Galappaththi, assistant professor in the Department of Geography. Their work builds on long-standing partnerships with Inuit communities, focusing on how climate change is reshaping food systems, livelihoods, health and well-being.
In the Arctic, shifting sea ice and changing weather patterns are altering wildlife movement, including caribou migration, making traditional hunting more difficult. These changes directly affect food security and community health.
For Mimasha, this was her first visit to Pangnirtung, a remote community on Baffin Island. For Galappaththi, it marked his ninth visit since 2016, part of a decade-long commitment to community-engaged research.
During the visit, Mimasha also shared her work with the Vedda Indigenous communities in Sri Lanka. Though separated by nearly 7,000 miles and living in dramatically different climates—the Arctic tundra and tropical forest—these communities face similar challenges related to food security, health, cultural identity, and social change.
“Even though our regions are so different, it was powerful to see how similar many of the challenges and strengths are,” Mimasha said.
“When Sithuni shared stories and videos from Sri Lanka, the youth were deeply engaged,” Galappaththi said. “They want to learn from each other because they are facing many of the same issues.”
Mimasha highlighted a youth-led initiative from the Indigenous Vedda community of Rathugala, Sri Lanka, where young people self-organized and formed an organization to strengthen community self-sufficiency.
“It was incredibly rewarding to see how meaningful that story was for them,” she said. “We were also grateful for the strong support from community leaders, including Elders, the mayor, and the deputy mayor.”
The exchange was part of Youth in Action, a program connecting Inuit youth in Pangnirtung with a youth-led initiative in Sri Lanka.
“This created a foundation for Indigenous youth to learn from one another despite very different environments,” Galappaththi said. “It fostered a unique global north–south dialogue around climate change, food security, identity, and well-being.”
Relationship-building was central to the work. “Sithuni connected exceptionally well with Inuit,” Galappaththi said. “That continuity is essential for meaningful research.”
For Mimasha, the experience marks the beginning of a longer journey. “This is just the start,” she said. “We hope to build more opportunities for continued collaboration and deeper exchange.”
Research driven by community priorities
The research in both Arctic and tropical contexts centers on food systems, particularly fisheries. Environmental changes are affecting food availability, access, and quality in the Arctic.
For Galappaththi, the goal is not just to document change, but to respond to community needs.
“One of my Inuit collaborators told me, ‘People come here to find answers to their own questions, not to solve ours,’” he said. “That stayed with me.”
Through long-term fieldwork, Galappaththi works closely with community members to document changes in ice safety, shifts in hunted species, and differences in the quality and reliability of traditional foods such as Arctic char and seal.
Rather than offering top-down solutions, the research emphasizes co-learning and meaningful collaboration.
“At the global level, through the Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network, we bring together insights from 17 countries and over 100 Indigenous communities,” he said. “That allows us to better understand shared challenges and pathways forward.”
By connecting communities across continents, the work highlights a powerful idea: while environments may differ, shared knowledge and relationships can help build resilience together.
