My research focuses on how Sámi were represented in text and images in four natural scientists' travel and scientific journals and letter correspondence during the nineteenth century. The scientists are Göran Wahlenberg (1780-1851), Lars Levi Læstadius (1800-1861), Sven Lovén (1809-1895) and Axel Hamberg (1863-1933). They were all based in Sweden, but did field studies and field research trips in the north of Finland, the north of Norway, the north of Sweden and Spitsbergen. Altar-piece from 1958 made by Bror Hjorth in the church of Jukkasjärvi, in the municipality of Kiruna in the north of Sweden. Lars Levi Læstadiu...

POLAR PERSPECTIVES is now well underway, taking place at 15 venues across the country, in each of Canada's provinces and territories! This National IPY event is supported by the Government of Canada’s International Polar Year Program, the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation, the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada, Students on Ice, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and Canadian Geographic Magazine.   The Speaker Series consists of an evening lecture program delivered to a general audience by prominent scientists, writers, artists, filmmakers, adventurers and leaders. It is intended to ...

Experience and learn about climate change first hand in the Antarctic! Gatineau, Qc.—6 November, 2008—Students on Ice Expeditions is accepting applications for the International Polar Year (IPY) Antarctic University Expedition 2009, a two week ship-based field course leaving Argentina on February 14th, 2009 returning February 28. This expedition provides a wonderful opportunity to study in one of the most exceptional and remote places on Earth. Our theme for this expedition is ‘Environmental Leadership’ and weaves itself through our education program in conjunction with our ongoing exploration of the ...

IPY Report: November 2008 1. Conferences and Workshops 2. Above The Poles 3. Norway 2010: thanks for submissions 4. APECS 5. IPY in photos: share your images 6. Polar Books Report no. 19, November 2008 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. Conferences and Workshops The completion of field campaigns in IPY necessarily means an increase in workshops to discuss the outcomes. Please check the calendar on http://ipy.arcticportal.org for workshop information, and send any information about workshops for the calendar t...

The mythical, historical and cultural past of the Sámi in 19th century northern scientific works – a tale about northern culture and northern natural landscape. Sven Lovén (1809-1895) depicted Sámi in his three combined travelling journal and scientific notebook that he wrote on his journey in northern Norway, northern Sweden and Spitsbergen in 1836-1838. Lovén made several types of representations of the Sámi such as ethnographical and anthropological ones as well as the ones he constructed out of references to literary work such as myths, fairy-tales and narratives about the Sámi. I will in this blog post look at the representations he made of Sámi with references to fictive, literary works. Lovén referred to literary works such as the epic Kale...

The Arctic has always been a difficult place to do any extensive monitoring and data collection. Until recently, there have only been a limited number of projects that have taken any significant, long-term, and coordinated observations of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent bodies of water. This is due in part to the extensive sea ice cover that persists over Arctic waters for a good part of the year, which makes it difficult to conduct ship surveys or deploy weather buoys and moorings to measure deep water currents. Arctic ROOS (Regional Ocean...

By Falk Huettmann and Sue Hazlett The Arctic represents a region of the globe directly affected by climate change, human disturbance and natural variation. In addition to acting as the global weather machine, it is considered one of the last remaining “wilderness” areas. However, the warming of the Arctic, a prospect of an ice-free maritime route across the top of the world, and the International Polar Year (IPY), has piqued an interest in the Arctic not previously seen. Prospects of shipping routes, tourism, oil and gas development, and new commercial fisheries have started a land rush by various nations to claim a piece of the northern oceans. The Arctic is in danger of being given away piecemeal as each nation asserts claims and then rushes to develop or exploit their...

Title: Living in the Northern Landscape: Connecting Archaeology, History, and Environmental Science When: Friday, October 24, 5 pm Where: The American-Scandinavian Foundation @ Scandinavia House 58 Park Avenue (between 37th and 38th Streets) $20 ($15 for ASF members, free to students with valid ID) This symposium, presented in observance of the International Polar Year, is comprised of four lectures investigating geological and cultural relationships based on the polar region’s interactions with global ecosystems. Presentations include: The International Polar Year and the Norse World: Connecting Science, Education and Community from the Faroes to Greenland - Thomas McGovern - Prof...

Bremerhaven, October 17th 2008. The German research vessel Polarstern has returned today to Bremerhaven from the Arctic Sea. It has cruised as the first research vessel ever both the Northeast and the Northwest Passages and thereby circled the North Pole. The third part of the research vessel’s 23rd Arctic expedition, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute in the Helmholtz Association, started its journey on August 12th in Reykjavik and ended it on October 17th in Bremerhaven. The ship travelled a distance of 10.800 nautical miles, equivalent to 20.000 kilometres. On board were 47 researchers from 12 nations, for example from Belgium, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Korea, the Netherlands, Russia and the USA. Because of the small ice cover, the expedition members were a...

Dana Centre Event Tuesday, 21 October 2008 7:00 - 9:00 pm Tickets are free Reserve your place And so we return from our Arctic expedition - Western Greenland has worked its magic. 10 days of exploration, discussion and debate, and it turns out we were right all along, climate change is happening! In the icy cold - catching a satellite link where we could - we beamed back daily blogs, images, video and sound to our Disko Bay site. Visit our website to find out more about what we got up to in the Arctic and the first responses of voyagers to climate change. Thank you to all those who have followed the expedition online and continue to support our work. On Tuesday, Oc...