240513 SE Introduction to Circumpolar North (P3) (2022W)

The Circumpolar North covering vast Arctic and Subarctic areas of the world, represents a politically, ethnically, culturally and socially diverse region of the world. It is characterized by relative remoteness, low population density (although, there are few cities in these areas too), a mix of indigenous and migrant groups who arrived to the region during the colonization process, and growing significance of the Arctic as a new resource frontier. While the new geopolitical struggles resulting from Russia’s war in the Ukraine, shattered the dreams of the unified Arctic, effects of climate and environmental change, dependence on energy resources extracted in the higher latitudes, international maritime regulations and other urgent issues call for continued cooperation between all Arctic nations.

This course is designed as an introduction to the Circumpolar North and is based on a mixture of anthropological and social science literature and white papers. It will start with a brief history of exploration and colonization of the region, continue with the present-day communities and populations including their living conditions, socio-economic development, infrastructures and resource extraction projects, and climate change effects, and finish with cultural revitalization movements and identities. Exploration of these globally and nationally relevant topics will draw on ethnographic examples coming from local communities in Siberia, Alaska, Fennoscandia, and Greenland and other Arctic and Subarctic regions.

The course will have a mixed, primarily seminar character. The first session will serve as the general introduction, provide the literature overview, set the tasks and explain the following course assignments. During the following sessions literature on selected key topics will be reviewed and discussed. Literature assignments will be complimented by an empirical media-based presentations and in-depth discussion of paper previews in the seminar format, with active participation by students and facilitation and feedbacks by the lecturer.