Paper short abstract:

In the wake of increased activity in the Arctic-Atlantic gateway comes a growing sense of 'Arcticness.' Based on art, promotional material and ethnography in Iceland and Greenland this paper looks at how Arctic identification is practiced and incorporated in the everyday life of mobile people.

Paper long abstract:

Arctic awareness and identification is crucially dependent on the movement of people. Increased activity in the Arctic-Atlantic gateway has been driven by the acquisition of routes, markets, territory and natural resources but also the pursuit of social capital within new communities. In the West Nordic context a relevant question is how mobile people drive or adapt to this mobility and heightened sense of 'region'. With Iceland's growing High North rhetoric, and some common ground with its geographical neighbours Greenland, Norway and the Faroe Islands, an sense of 'Arcticness' is emerging. Iceland's official Arctic strategy has culminated in the current emphasis on an Arctic coastal status and West Nordic cooperation. Meanwhile actors within tourism, advertisement, arts and popular culture have long since begun to cultivate, capitalize and appropriate the aesthetics and images of the High North. Transnational encounters may also involve exoticised representation of the peripheral and colonial. Based on art, promotional material and ethnography in Iceland and Greenland this paper looks at how Arctic identification is practiced and incorporated in the everyday life of mobile people.

Paper short abstract:

The paper investigates the recent breakthrough of dog-sledding in Norway. How are differentiated friluftsliv identities promoted through dog-sledding? How do they relate to negotiations of nature relations and Norwegianness in times of global warming and a race for natural resources in the Arctic?

Paper long abstract:

The Norwegian friluftsliv (outdoor recreation) tradition is a complex cultural field, marked by antagonism. With roots back in time to amongst other the Norwegian nation building process, friluftsliv is considered a constitutive part of Norwegian national identity. Values at stake in friluftsliv as a “popular cultural” field concerns how Norwegians should relate in relevant and legitimate ways to the non-human, in terms of “natural landscapes” and “animals”. Trough Norwegians’ discursive and corporeal practicing of friluftsliv, continuous negotiations take place concerning value-laden problem fields encapsulated in dichotomies like human-animal and nature-culture. All the way, friluftsliv makes up a central stage for identify formations among Norwegians. During the last thirty years, long distance dog-sledding has entered this stage as a new winter friluftsliv practice. From being positioned on the margins of society – both literally and symbolically – thirty years ago, the popularity of dog mushers and sled dogs have increased considerably, particularly during the last decade. Even though the picture is ambiguous and potential critique is lingering below the surface, for example from animal protection organizations, dog-sledding has become popular. Based on fieldwork among sled-dogs and mushers in Norway, this paper investigates how the breakthrough of dog-sledding as a new friluftsliv practice can be understood. Questions pursued are what and how differentiated friluftsliv identities are promoted through dog-sledding and how they relate to negotiations of nature relations and Norwegianness in times of global warming and in the context of a global race for natural resources in Arctic territories.

Paper short abstract:

In Sakha worldview cardinal directions are both historical and geographical constructions. Although in Sakha environmental perception North was traditionally hostile area, due to Soviet modernization and recent global interest in the Arctic, the Sakha perspective on North has changed profoundly.

Paper long abstract:

Sakhas (Yakuts) of northeastern Siberia normally localize themselves and define their immediate environment in the wider context of culturally determined macro-environment. In Sakha environmental perception ethnic groups, lifestyles, and landscapes are associated with cardinal directions. Cardinal directions are as much historical as geographical constructions; they are imbued with memories and identities, and represent a historically rich, stratified, changing, and incoherent collection of ideas and assessments.

Out of the cardinal directions North is of special interest. Although in Sakha environmental perception North was traditionally a peripheral area of frost and evil spirits, as well as the homeland of uncivilized peoples, due to modernization efforts in the Soviet era (widely known as the conquest of the North), and recent growing global interest in Arctic regions, the Sakha perspective on North and the Arctic world has changed profoundly. Instead of referring to the North as a peripheral area, alien to Sakhas, it has taken a central position in Sakha self-identification and in Yakutia's region-building process. The paper aims at presenting conflicting local and national discourses on the notion of North in Yakutia, and showing the efforts of local cultural politics in making the Arctic and North a Sakha homeland.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the steps different participants, science, tour operators and tourists offer to the choreography of the Northern lights and how the dance produced provides a sense for the Arctic in various ways.

Paper long abstract:

In 1897 the astounding nature of the Northern lights inspired a poem written by an Icelandic poet, Einar Benediktsson, in which he describes their movements as mystifying choreography offering the reader to enter into world where enigmatic wonders of nature rule. Interestingly, the legend says that Einar, who also was an entrepreneur, tried to sell them to a foreign business partner. How he was going to contain them as an object of trade is not known but the legend is curious. It reflects how since the 18th Century effort has been to appropriate the Aurora as an object. First when the Aurora became a subject of science aiming to capture reliable answers for their existence, often done by capturing their visual appearances through technologies available, such as drawing and carving, hence the impossibility of bringing them into laboratories. It can thus be claimed that science entered into the Aurora's flickering choreography in order to stabilise it, nevertheless the dance still goes on. Today the choreography continues with new partners when tourism promoters aim to capture visual images of the Aurora in order to entice tourists to visit the Arctic in wintertime which works and tourists do participate in the dance when gazing into the sky at night.

This paper explores the steps different participants, science, tour operators and tourists offer to the ongoing choreography and how it provides a sense for the Arctic at diverse levels, global and local, by examining various visual perspectives through which Aurora is captured.

Paper short abstract:

The Northern Lights are an important element of visits to the Arctic areas. By investigating how the lights have been narrated in different historical contexts, the paper will point to how these narratives establish boundaries between visitors and indigenous populations.

Paper long abstract:

Visitors, researchers, travelers, and tourists to the Arctic areas often have reported great and profound experiences of the Northern Lights during their stays. From their reports we can find how they have listened to various narratives of this phenomenon from their local guides, or at least we can read how these narratives have been understood, transformed and transmitted by the visitors. If we understand these narratives in a colonializing perspective, we can understand them as a continuous borealisation of the Arctic peoples and their cultures. While the visitors generally understand the Northern Lights according to the latest findings of nature science, the description of the phenomenon usually uses local narratives and alleged indigenous myths to give the right color to the extraordinary experience. However, if these poetical descriptions and narratives are contextualized historically, even the performances of contemporary Northern Lights tourism reinforce the old boundaries between 'us' and 'them' in the Arctic area.