Arctic Humanities – serie

This book digs into environmental themes in Alaska travel writing since U.S. statehood in 1959, drawing on the works of six authors including Barry Lopez, Jonathan Raban, Tom Lowenstein and others. Each work, though disparate in style, advocates for the empowerment of the Alaska Native people by connecting not only with diverse perspectives but with the lived realities in the geographical spaces that have formed them. In analyzing how these authors have succeeded in depicting the realities of alterities, and where they have perhaps fallen short by more recent standards, we may begin to carve out a system of ethics. This is important as fresh waves of travel writers search for their own place in the environmental conversations surrounding the ever-evolving, 21st century Arctic and its place on the front lines of a changing climate.

Collecting the North examines natural and human-made objects from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, exploring their relationship to the Nordic countries and the European Arctic. Through in-depth analyses, the contributors analyse how these objects inform narratives, imaginings and interpretations of the North across time. This volume argues that objects, collections and collecting practices have shaped political and cultural knowledge of the North in multiple ways, and continue to do so. It provides novel insights into the significance of objects in understanding the North, utilising innovative methodological and theoretical approaches from both the humanities and the natural sciences.

The present volume is dedicated to the culture of the Sámi and their homeland, Sápmi (Lapland). The contributions focus on textual and visual representations of Sápmi and the Sámi in the past and present, seen both from within and without, discussing the practice of Sámi culture across time, as well as cultural mediations thereof. The volume offers a rare transdisciplinary approach in the field of Arctic Humanities, associating art history with anthropology, history, literature, cultural studies, comparative religion, film, education and creative writing. It includes an unpublished essay by the late John Burnside, one of Britain's foremost contemporary poets.With contributions from Joanna Kodzik, Konsta Kaikkonen, Jan Borm, Risto Pulkkinen, Francis Joy, Tuija Hautala-Hirvioja, Pigga Keskitalo, Inker-Anni Linkola-Aikio, Liisa E. Holmberg, John Burnside, Katja Hyry