Scott Polar Research Institute
Research seminars in Polar Social Science: earlier seminars and events
The Journals of William Hooper
4pm, Wednesday 13th February 2013, Seminar Room
Ghosts and apparitions in the field: an international workshop
27th May 2011, Lecture Theature, Scott Polar Research Institute
What is spectrality? How can we theorise haunting? What forms of livelihood give rise to the expansion and proliferation of ghosts? What ontological implications do ghosts (imps, vampires, spirits and other creatures of human and non-human origin) have for people's perceptions of themselves, their present, past and future? Our event is aimed at exploring the multiple notions and constructs of the ghost and the ghostly, broadly defined, in the current research of anthropologists and historians. Whether ghosts represent a separate community of projections, divided between entertainment, religion, and parapsychology (as in the Western European perspective) or a vital everyday force implicated in myriad social processes and cosmologies (as in various non-Western contexts), the fact remains that ghosts and ghostly affects are imbedded in our cultures, ideologies and memoryscapes. The aim of this workshop is to provide an opportunity for participants to exchange ideas and speak to each other about the ghosts that haunt their research. Therefore presentations in each session will take the form of an opening statement of working ideas of no more than 10-15 minutes, followed by an open discussion with the other participants lasting 15-20 minutes.
Read full details, including schedule.
The 2011 Scott Polar History Colloquium: Issues of Historical Practice in the Polar Regions
Tuesday 29 March 2011, Lecture Theatre, Scott Polar Research Institute
What is the place of the historical researcher with respect to the early twenty-first-century Arctic? This colloquium aims to create an intra- and interdisciplinary space in which to begin a discussion around this question. With climate change pressing harder upon worldwide public consciousness and debate, physical and social scientists are cast in the roles of spokespeople and experts on these regions. Meanwhile, scholars in the humanities, facing an accelerating diminution of funding for our research, are increasingly called upon to clarify the "relevance" of our contributions to scholarship. This seems an ideal time to consider how historians could, and should, use the specialized and cutting-edge tools and methods of their profession to advance public and scholarly understanding of the historical and present-day Arctic and Antarctic, and thus create distinctive and valuable positions from which to contribute to current political, economic, socio-cultural, and environmental debates.
Read full details, including schedule.
Professor Chris Southcott (Aix-en-Provence): "The Post-Fordist Arctic: New migration patterns in Canada's North"
Monday 12th April, Seminar Room 1pm, Scott Polar Research Institute
Abstract: One of the fundamental characteristics underlying discussion of human society in the Canadian Arctic is that it has been an extremely mobile population. Environmental conditions in the region meant that the Indigenous population moved often to ensure their survival. The settler population's presence in the region was determined by the changing boom and bust cycles of natural resource exploitation. While much attention has been devoted to debates of whether the indigenous population was relocated or migrated voluntarily, comparative little attention has been given to trying to understand the more contemporary reasons people move into, around, and out of the region. The trends of globalization, post-industrialism, new communications technology, the knowledge society, and political empowerment indicate that new migration patterns may be developing that need to be analyzed. This presentation will examine migration in the Canadian Arctic using the most recent census data. Migration patterns based on size of community, economic base, indigenous population, importance of traditional economy, gender, age, and education will be examined.
All members of the university are welcome to attend.
The Inhabited Arctic: New Cartographies in the Study of Arctic Governance and Exploration
Wednesday 17th June 2009
See: full details of this event.
Easter Term 2009
| 7th Mary 2009 2pm, Department of Geography Seminar Room |
George Tombs: 'The Secret History of Amundsen's Polar Expeditions'. This original research project was inspired by George's chance meeting with Amundsen's great-great-grandson, the talented Inuk carver Damian Iquallaq, in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, last year. The talk will consider cross-cultural relations and their scientific, exploratory, and personal implications. It will be vividly illustrated by photographs from George's personal collection, and should be of general interest. |
Michaelmas 2008
| 9 October | Dr Michael Bravo (CHiPP), Introductory session |
| 16 October: | Evelyn Landerer (CHiPP), 'Fieldwork in Irkutsk Taiga' |
| 23 October | Jackie Price (CHiPP) introduced the John Houston film Diet of Souls and led a discussion after the screening about Inuit culture and spirituality. |
| 29 October | Dominique Henri (Oxford), 'Managing Natures, Managing Cultures: Science and Experts in the Northwest Territories, Canada'
Erin Freeland (Oxford), 'Resource Development and the Fostering of Youth Participation in Development Dialogues' |
| 6 November | Christina Sawchuk (CHiPP), 'An Early Twentieth-Century Canadian Culture of Arctic Exploration' |
| 13 November | Marionne Cronin (CHiPP/Oxford), 'Pole Seeking: To the North Pole By Air' |
| 20 November | Louise Watling (CHiPP), 'Labour and Class in Polar Exploration' |
| 27 November | Sean Maher (CHiPP), 'Enframing the Athabasca' |
| 4 December | Johan Schimanski and Ulrike Spring (University of Tromsø), 'Explorers' Bodies in Arctic Mediascapes: Celebrating the Return of the Austro-Hungarian Polar Expedition in 1874'
Peder Roberts (Stanford), '"What Has All This Got To Do With Science?" The Rhetoric of Scientific Devotion in British Government Plans for the International Geophysical Year (1957-58)' |
Earlier listings
Here is an archive of previous seminar listings: