The US and the Arctic – Special Issue Editors’ Introduction

The AAG review of books, 2016

2012

Welcome from the Under Secretary of Science, SmithSonian inStitUtion Welcome to Washington, to the U.S. National Mall, to the Smithsonian Institution and to the 18th Inuit Studies Conference-the first ever to be convened in the Lower '48! We have planned an exciting and diverse program under the theme: "Learning From the Top of the World." As you are aware, this meeting is being held at a time when the world is undergoing profound changes in climate, biodiversity, and life systems, and these shifts are having major impacts on the world's political, economic, social, and cultural life. These changing conditions and their interrelationships are the grist that will be considered from an Arctic perspective by a host of specialists over the course of four days from 24-28 October. Central to the program will be daily plenary sessions featuring leading researchers and Inuit leaders, a conference banquet, and a closing panel reviewing findings and road-maps for the future. In addition to scholarly symposia, lectures, and presentations, ISC-18 attendees will experience Arctic exhibitions; tour collection, conservation, and education facilities; take part in a film festival and performing arts programs; and consult with government agencies, foundations, and NGOs. Interactive media will bring many conference activities directly to northern communities. The Arctic Studies Center has engaged a wide sector of Smithsonian institutions and staff in ISC-18. On behalf of the entire Smithsonian family and our conference partners we invite you to be part of the Smithsonian's core mission: "the increase and diffusion of knowledge"-and in this case, I mean Arctic and Inuit knowledge! Welcome from the director of the national mUSeUm of the american indian Dear ISC Conference-goers, It is my great pleasure to welcome the Inuit Studies Conference to the National Museum of the American Indian. Inuit feature strongly in our collections, exhibitions, and public programs, and the opportunity to co-host people and their creations this prestigious conference with so many Inuit participants has been warmly embraced by our staff. In addition to attending the opening festivities and scholarly sessions in our museum, please take some time to visit the special exhibition, "Arctic Voyages / Ancient Memories: the Sculpture of Abraham Anghik Ruben," which we have mounted to coincide with your conference. Not only is the exhibition a spectacular demonstration of the creativity of modern Inuit artists; it highlights new discoveries about Inuit connections with other peoples and cultures, topics which will be explored in depth during your meetings here. Welcome all! And remind your friends to explore the NMAI on their next trip to Washington, D.C. Welcome from chair, department of anthropology It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the 18th biennial Inuit Studies Conference and to the Smithsonian Institution. For over three decades the Inuit Studies Conference has served as an important international forum for engaged and meaningful dialogue between northern communities and scholars. This year's conference program and its theme, "Inuit/Arctic Connections: Learning from the Top of the World" promises to continue this longstanding tradition. I wish you all a very successful and productive conference. Welcome from the director, anthropology collectionS & archiveS program Greetings Colleagues, On behalf of my staff and colleagues in the Anthropology Collections and Archives Program (CAP) at the Smithsonian's Museum Support Center, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 18th Inuit Studies Conference. We look forward to providing you access to one of the richest and most varied collections of northern anthropological materials assembled anywhere in the world. As many of you know, some of the Smithsonian's oldest and most systematic ethnological and archaeological collections are the product of research in Alaska, Canada and Greenland. This includes important mid-to late-nineteenth century artifact collections made by Edward Nelson, Roderick MacFarlane, and Lucien Turner, among many others. These collections are joined by an array of rich cultural, linguistic, photograph, film, and artwork materials held in the National Anthropological Archives and the Human Studies Film Archives. There researchers can access language materials by ethnographers such as Frederica de Laguna, photographs by Henry Collins and Edward S. Curtis, watercolors of Inuit life scenes by Henry Wood Elliott, and historic moving Inuit life by William van Valin (1919) and Father Bernard Hubbard (1938-42). I trust we will learn from each other as you engage our collections during the conference period or in future research visits.

The Polar Journal, 2018

Arctic identity interactions Reconfiguring dependency in Greenland’s and Denmark’s foreign policies, 2019

This PhD dissertation investigates how Greenland’s and Denmark’s foreign policy identities interact in the light of the renewed global geopolitical attention towards the Arctic. A development, which is used to enhance their common and distinct positions in international politics, where their roles as key Arctic actors offer opportunities to have more frequent, direct interactions with the world’s most powerful state leaders. Something which is not common for a small state like Denmark and even rarer for a self-governing territory such as Greenland. Whereas the Arctic is discursively highlighted in foreign policy identities of the two countries, it is so to quite different extends: In Greenland, it is ubiquitous and inevitable to the prevailing collective identity representation as well as in paradiplomatic relations to the outside world. In Denmark, the status as an Arctic state is conditioned upon Greenland’s geographic location and continuous membership of the Danish Realm. This difference reconfigures the dependency between the former colony and colonizer: It gives Greenland representatives an ‘Arctic advantage’ in the postcolonial negotiations, as to remain an Arctic state, Denmark must maintain the Danish Realm. This advantage is used to enhance Greenland’s foreign policy autonomy and to alter the relationship towards one of more equality. At the same time, the Government of Greenland welcomes the increased international Arctic attention as an opportunity to diversify dependency beyond Denmark, hence reducing the relevance of the Danish Realm and enhancing Greenland’s agency in international politics. How Greenland’s and Denmark’s foreign policy representatives (inter)act - together and separately - in discursive Arctic contexts is examined through five different articles. These focus on discourse and praxis within the Arctic Council, circumpolar conferences and concrete tri- and bilateral relations, but also how e.g. proposed mining projects and questions of sustainability activate postcolonial nuances about who has the ultimate right to decide. As such, all the articles contribute to a better understanding of Greenland’s and Denmark’s Arctic affairs, while some of them are also part of other academic advancements contributing with new theoretically informed perspectives on circumpolar security developments and new understandings of how the concept of sustainability is used politically in the Arctic.

2006

In: Lill-Ann Körber/Ebbe Volquardsen: The Postcolonial North Atlantic: Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Berlin: Nordeuropa-Institut der Humboldt-Universität 2014, 391-417.

Torun International Studies

The article attempts to present what seems to be of critical importance to the planet in terms of the influence on the life of all of us, namely the current changes occurring in the Arctic, as well as tries to show how complex the issue is. The work also tries to prove that the leading entity governing the Arctic, i.e. the Arctic Council is slowly turning into another unmanageable institution, not unlike the United Nations. In addition, the work endeavors to describe briefly the extremely aggressive policy of China towards the Arctic, a fairly new country with the permanent observer status in the Arctic Council wishing rather desperately to obtain a "chunk of the pie" in the division of Arctic riches, seemingly targeting especially Greenland as of late. The author attempts to present the complexity of international relations and diversified interests of separate countries and organizations, as well as evaluates some potential developments in the Arctic geopolitical sphere.

Scientia Canadensis: Canadian Journal of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, 2010

This paper explores a vacant spot in the Cold War history of science: the development of research activities in the physical environmental sciences and in nuclear science and technology in Greenland. In the post-war period, scientific exploration of the polar areas became a strategically important element in American and Soviet defence policy. Particularly geophysical fields like meteorology, geology, seismology, oceanography, and others profited greatly from military interest. While Denmark maintained formal sovereignty over Greenland, research activities were strongly dominated by U.S. military interests. This paper sets out to summarize the limited current state of knowledge about activities in the environmental physical sciences in Greenland and their entanglement with military, geopolitical, and colonial interests of both the USA and Denmark. We describe geophysical research in the Cold War in Greenland as a multidimensional colonial endeavour. In a period of decolonization aft...