The Spring 2010 issue of The Northern Review, a multidisciplinary journal of the arts and social sciences of the North, is now available. Articles and book reviews are listed below. Article abstracts, the full text of the book reviews, and a table of contents are available on the journal website at: http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/research/pages/the_northern_review/

In the Arctic, climatic warming is twice as marked as in the rest of the world and the arctic territories are being transformed. The shrinking of the permanent sea ice cover is opening up navigation through the North-West and the North-East passages and massive possibilities are opening up for exploiting the resources of the ocean floor and of its surrounding coastline: oil, gas, uranium, coal, gas hydrates, etc. Twenty percent of the world’s energy reserves are now thought to be found in the Arctic. The five States bordering on the Arctic (Canada, the United-States, Russia, Denmark/Greenland, Norway) are trying to maintain their national sovereignty over portions of the Arctic Ocean or to increase it through extending it onto the continental shelf. The Russian Federation is claiming a sector, which stretches as far as the North Pole. The ecological impact of climatic warming, already clearly evident, would be further aggravated by any industrialization of the Arctic. The impact is also a human and social one for the Arctic Native populations.

Faced with this situation, are existing juridical arrangements adequate? What role can be played in the protection of the Arctic by international organizations and institutions (the Arctic Council, the European Union), or even more so by existing organizations for regional cooperation? To what extent are the Native populations listened to and in a position to participate in decisions concerning the administering and management of the Arctic? By bringing together geophysicists, political scientists, jurists, geographers and historians, this international conference intends to discuss and analyze what is at stake in these present controversies, to clarify modes of governance, to explore the possibility of international regulation -- in brief to throw scientific light on this urgent and increasingly controversial topic of major geopolitical interest.

From the publisher: Since the mid-twentieth century, sustained contact between Inuit and newcomers has led to profound changes in education in the Eastern Arctic, including the experience of colonization and progress toward the re-establishment of traditional education in schools. The hopeful milestone of the establishment of Nunavut Territory in 1999 was followed by the 2006 Berger Report, which drew attention to problems remaining in the territory’s education system.

As the first history of educational policy, practice, and decision-making in the Eastern Arctic, this book provides the context needed to understand current challenges and successes in Inuit education. A description of education before colonization serves as the foundation to assess developments in three subsequent periods: the colonial (1945-70), the territorial (1971-81), and the local (1982-99). Heather McGregor asks, who initiated and controlled change during these periods? When and how were Inuit culture, language, and traditions established in schools? She concludes that education has been and is most successful when Inuit involvement and local control support a system that reflects Inuit culture and Inuit visions for the future.

Situated at the Northern edge of the world, the environment has posed unique challenges to the Nordic countries throughout history. This half-day session takes environmental historian William Cronon's ‘hinterland’ concept as its starting point. He used the concept to demonstrate how a metropolis like Chicago included ever larger areas in its influence, gathering resources and exerting change on the environment of these areas. The Nordic countries do not possess the same gravity, yet they are also intimately connected to areas and environments across the globe. Rather than a model with the Nordic countries either in the center or in the hinterland, the organizers of the session understand these countries to be nodes in an ever-changing network. They are interested in how the movement of food, people, and ideas into, out of, and within the Nordic countries has affected the local and global environment.

The Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada), in partnership with Inuit Tuttarvingat (National Aboriginal Health Organization), has developed a new research poster in English and Inuktitut. See attached .pdf.

The University of Tromsø welcomes applications to a position as postdoctoral research fellow with a focus on the aesthetics of borders in the European Far North, Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, Department of Culture and Literature. For more details on position and how to apply, see http://www.jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=67057. The application deadline is 4 June 2010.

Introducing the international project behind the Arctic Perspective exhibition, a panel of artists, academics and architects explore its cultural, historical and political contexts. The Arctic Perspective Initiative aims to support a thoroughly contemporary nomadism via open and free media, environmental monitoring and communications technologies.

Arctic Perspective highlights the cultural, geopolitical and ecological significance of the Arctic and its indigenous cultures. In collaboration with the people of Igloolik, Kinngait, Iqaluit, Mittimatalik and Kanngiqtugaapik in Nunavut, Canada and other Arctic communities, artists and architects are devising a mobile media and living unit and infrastructure, powered by renewable energy sources. The unit will be used by Inuit and other Arctic peoples for creative media production such as film-making, communications and monitoring the environment, while moving, living and working on the land. The exhibition includes architectural models of winning designs from the Arctic Perspective open architecture competition by Richard Carbonnier (Canada), Catherine Rannou (France) and Giuseppe Mecca (Italy), with photographs, videos and maps from the project. The exhibition is open from 10am to 5:30pm on weekdays.

Northern worlds have always suffered from stereotyping. Since the Enlightenment, 'North' played the role of frontier of geographic knowledge and wilderness of harrowing and sublime proportions. The last century saw its diversification as a space of untapped resources, from fur and gold to oil and gas. In other historical moments, north figured large as a relational concept in the formulation of identities and mentalities, especially by those farther south. Drawing on the point of view that material culture can provide, CHAT North at the University of Aberdeen seeks to question and move beyond caricatures to explore, compare and reassess the diversity and significance of northern worlds.

Communities in coastal Labrador are experiencing the impacts of climate variability and change. Two graduate students are sought to work on a research program that examines the role of values and cultural identity in shaping responses to climate change in Labrador communities. Potential topics include water resources, food security and historical accounts of climate in Labrador. The research is in collaboration with the Nunatsiavut Government, NunatuKavut Community Council and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Funding for the research is in place and community consultation will start summer 2010. Desirable start date as soon as possible.