UArctic Thematic Network ARCH’s session Writing and visualising the Arctic: travel writing, Indigenous life stories and historical sources, 18th-21st century convened by MIARC’ director Jan Borm and Jun.-Prof. Joanna Kodzik will take place at the UArctic Congress 2024 in Bodø, Norway.
There is a long history of representing the Arctic in texts and images. These productions have had a strong impact on those who read/receive them, and continue to do so in certain cases, a phenomenon that opens up interesting perspectives as to their reception and the way they have been perceived both inside and outside the Arctic.
This session will focus on the tensions between individual experiences and collective adaptations and transformations. It will draw on concepts of cultural identity and sustainability as well as human geography to support ongoing discussions of Indigenous traditions and rights in light of the worldwide interest in the Arctic. In current scientific and political discussions of identity, Indigenous land rights, and health, historical perspectives that allow following Indigenous personalities over the course of their lifetimes and conceptualizing notions of the self in view of their origin and networks, features, and internalized ideas of their religious affiliation, have not been sufficiently taken into consideration.
Papers presented during this session will focus notably on Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Sápmi and Alaska:
Peter Sköld (Umeå University):
“Complete Life Biographies in Sápmi – the Unique Demographic Sources in Sweden”
Joanna Kodzik (UVSQ/University of Paris-Saclay):
“Conceptualizing the Indigenous “self” in missionary writing from Greenland and Sápmi”
Ilona Kivinen (University of Helsinki):
“Eliel Lagercrantz, scholar and language activist”
Bergur Djurhuus Hansen (University of the Faroe Islands /Fróðskaparsetur Føroya):
“A Region of Maybe. Approaching the Arctic in Times of War”
Ben Ferguson (Wofford College, USA):
“Whose story is it anyway?: the travel writer’s dilemma between integrating outside voices and keeping a story their own, with a focus on John McPhee’s Coming into the Country.”
Venue:
1 June 2024, 11:00 - 12:30; Scandic Bodø Hotel - Room: Ambassadør 2
© J. Borm
