Studying Arctic fields : cultures, practices, and environmental sciences /
Powell, Richard C.,author.
"In recent years the circumpolar region has emerged as the key to understanding global climate change. The plight of the polar bear, resource extraction debates, indigenous self-determination, and competing definitions of sovereignty among Arctic nation-states have brought the northernmost part of the planet to the forefront of public consideration. Yet little is reported about the social world of environmental scientists in the Arctic. What happens at the isolated sites where experts seek to answer the most pressing questions facing the future of humanity? Portraying the social lives of scientists at Resolute in Nunavut and their interactions with logistical staff and Inuit, Richard Powell demonstrates that the scientific community is structured along power differentials in response to gender, class, and race. To explain these social dynamics the author examines the history and vision of the Government of Canada's Polar Continental Shelf Program and John Diefenbaker's 'Northern Vision, ' combining ethnography with wider discourses on nationalism, identity, and the postwar evolution of scientific sovereignty in the high Arctic. By revealing an expanded understandding of the scientific life as it relates to politics, history, and cultures, 'Studying Arctic Fields' articulates a new theory of field research. Advocating for a greater appreciation of science in the remote parts of the world, 'Studying Arctic Fields' is an innovative approach to anthropology, environmental inquiry, and geography, and a landmark statement on Arctic science as a social practice"--Back cover.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-232) and index.
Introduction -- Scientific sovereignty, nordicity, and the Canadian nation -- Between observation and experiment in Arctic fieldwork -- Base cultures: the spatial organization of a research station -- Performing the Arctic scientific human -- Canada Day in Qausuittuq: dramatizing Inuit encounters -- Emotional practices and play: the quotidian provenance of logistics -- Hidden voices? Competing visions and the everyday governance of Arctic science -- Epilogue: requiem for a Canadian Arctic? -- Note on methodology, sources, and research ethics.
"In recent years the circumpolar region has emerged as the key to understanding global climate change. The plight of the polar bear, resource extraction debates, indigenous self-determination, and competing definitions of sovereignty among Arctic nation-states have brought the northernmost part of the planet to the forefront of public consideration. Yet little is reported about the social world of environmental scientists in the Arctic. What happens at the isolated sites where experts seek to answer the most pressing questions facing the future of humanity? Portraying the social lives of scientists at Resolute in Nunavut and their interactions with logistical staff and Inuit, Richard Powell demonstrates that the scientific community is structured along power differentials in response to gender, class, and race. To explain these social dynamics the author examines the history and vision of the Government of Canada's Polar Continental Shelf Program and John Diefenbaker's 'Northern Vision, ' combining ethnography with wider discourses on nationalism, identity, and the postwar evolution of scientific sovereignty in the high Arctic. By revealing an expanded understandding of the scientific life as it relates to politics, history, and cultures, 'Studying Arctic Fields' articulates a new theory of field research. Advocating for a greater appreciation of science in the remote parts of the world, 'Studying Arctic Fields' is an innovative approach to anthropology, environmental inquiry, and geography, and a landmark statement on Arctic science as a social practice"--Back cover.
Polar Continental Shelf Project (Canada)
Research
Research
Research
Environmental sciences