Excavating sites of power in the Arctic
October 27-28, 2020
Rovaniemi, University of Lapland, Finland
Dead
line for abstract submissions is 20 September 2020
Where/when does power – be it political, economic, historical, etc – come
into play in the Arctic? The theme of the 2020 Northern political economy
symposium is “Excavating sites of power in the Arctic”. We welcome presenta
tions that delve into power in its different, and potentially disguised/hid
den/subdued, forms and manifestations. The presentations can discuss the ex
ercise of power by different human and non-human agencies and analyze its d
ifferent consequences, for example, for the region’s population, developmen
t and governance. Critical perspectives on power in Arctic studies are impo
rtant to challenge current metanarratives of the Arctic as, for example, a
resource region or a stage for (non)human resilience in the face of climate
change. These depictions dominate public perceptions of the Arctic and exp
ectations of its development. The aim of the symposium is to advance critic
al perspectives on the meaning and means of power in Arctic studies by chal
lenging conventional positions and mainstream approaches to knowledge as we
ll as to explore alternative ways of understanding the Arctic, its history
and future development.
Keynote speaker
Our keynote speaker is professor Julian Reid. He
is Chair and Professor of International Relations at the University of Lapl
and. He taught previously at King’s College London, SOAS, and the Univ
ersity of Sussex. His latest book is Becoming Indigenous: Governing Imagina
ries in the Anthropocene (coauthored with David Chandler) (Rowman & Lit
tlefield, London, 2019).
The title of his key note l
ecture is “Arctic Biopolitics”
This
lecture will provide a critical assessment of the potentials of the concept
of biopolitics for the theorization of power in the Arctic. In particular
the lecture will focus on the question of the governance of migration withi
n the Arctic. Migration of populations is an issue of fundamental interest
to biopolitical regimes of power, and has been since their inception in the
early modern era. It has also always been closely related to issues of cli
mate and concerns especially over the implications of climate migrations fo
r the stability of populations, both human and non-human. The lecture will
provide an overview of the different ways migration of human and non-human
populations is interpreted today, as threats to the stability of the Arctic
region, as well as threats to the survivability of migratory populations t
hemselves. We will consider the different policy regimes which arise from t
hese interpretations. In particular the lecture will focus on the contempor
ary debate over the climate migration of polar bears in Arctic Canada and p
rovide an account of the biopolitics of conflict between the Canadian state
and its indigenous populations; a conflict which has arisen from their dif
ferent interpretations of the climate migration of polar bears. As we will
see, analysing this conflict through the lens of the concept of biopolitics
provides a very different slant on the issues involved than has hitherto b
een achieved to date in Arctic research.
Deadline
for proposals
Please send your abstract (max. 250
-words) with your name, title, affiliation and contact information before September 20, 2020 by email to Monica Tennberg (<
a href="mailto:monica.tennberg@ulapland.fi">