Boas, Franz 2009. Arctic Expedition 1883-1884. Translated German Newspaper Accounts of My Life with the Eskimos. Edited by Norman F. Boas and Doris W. Boas and translated by Rita Terris and Thomas Huber. 66 pp. Published by and available from Norman F. Boas, M.D. (contact information below)

This publication includes two collections of popular articles that Franz Boas wrote for one of the major Berlin dailies, the liberal Berliner Tageblatt (founded in 1872), and the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, called the Staats for short (founded 1834), serving the German population in New York City and being the third largest daily in New York in the 1880s. In 1883, to obtain much needed funding for his expedition, Boas landed a commission with the Berliner Tageblatt to write a series of articles about his ensuing sojourn among the Inuit and whalers of Baffin Island for a handsome sum of 3000 Reichsmark for which his father put up the required bond. In all, he wrote 18 articles that where published between March 30, 1883 and April 27, 1885 that were mostly well placed in the Sunday edition and in some cases syndicated to other German newspapers; 16 of these articles are included in this book. The two additional articles were issued in the Staats during the winter of 1885. The articles are accompanied by maps, drawings and photos that were part of the original publications and were added by the editors.

With common concerns over circumpolar issues, international security, environmental protection, and sustainable development, Canada and the Nordic states display a strong sense of shared values and outlook. The aim of this seminar series, scheduled for 27-28 May 2010 at the University of Alberta, Canada, is to bring together policy-makers and researchers to explore common perspectives and future challenges of Canada's and Europe's northern regions. The series is being jointly organized by the Canadian Circumpolar Institute (Canada), the Thule Institute (Finland), the Stefansson Arctic Institute (Iceland), and the Northern Research Forum.

Lakehead University, located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, is excited to announce that NORT 1111: Introduction to the Circumpolar World (equivalent to BCS 100) will be taught during their Spring 2010 session – May 25-June 15 – for the first time simultaneously on campus and will also be media-streamed on the Internet. Students who register will get a password and can log on through WebCT. The lectures will also remain online for students to see later for review, etc. The course will have all of its readings and related materials online through WebCT, as well as assignments submitted and exams, etc.

Papers are invited for contributions to the "Oral History and Fieldwork – The (Re)use and Interpretation of Research Materials" Symposium hosted by the Finnish Literature Society in collaboration with the Finnish Oral History Network (FOHN) and The Academy of Finland project, "Strangers from the East – Narratives of Karelian Exiles and Re-immigrants from Russia Regarding their Integration in Finland 2009-2012" (lead by Dr. Outi Fingerroos). The event will be the third international symposium organized by the Finnish Oral History Network. Organizers aim to stimulate discussion and bring together scholars interested in fieldwork methodology within oral history research. The symposium will offer a discussion forum for researchers working in the field. The keynote speakers are Molly Andrews (University of East London, United Kingdom) and Selma Leydesdorff (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the University of Alaska Museum of the North (UAM) Archaeology Department are offering an Archaeological Collections Research Fellowship to encourage and support student research on collections. The successful applicant will conduct research with existing archaeological collections at UAM. The museum's archaeological collections include significant holdings from all periods of human occupation of Alaska. In particular, the BLM has more than 1,300 accessioned collections at UAM, containing an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 artifacts. In their proposal, the successful candidate for this fellowship will use, at least in part, BLM collections at the museum.

In recent years, numerous scholars have reflected on a ‘memory boom’ in the humanities and social sciences which, it is said, has produced a plethora of different, often conflicting approaches to the subject – along with a ‘semantic overload’ in terminologies. The organizers would, therefore, like to limit the subject matter of this session to discussion of empirical research (with theoretical underpinnings) into ways in which autobiographical and group memories are affected by their re-presentation in specific ‘presents’. Diasporic and marginal groups, or members of no-longer-fashionable social movements, for example, might be especially prone to such selective remembering/forgetting. The organizers are particularly interested in the ways in which individual and group rememberings appear to be shaped and even transformed by the politics and values that are hegemonic in the sites of memory narration – especially when these are, in any respect, in conflict with those current at the time of the lived experience or ‘stuff’ of memory. Reports on research which casts light on the process of transformation of the framings of rememberings over time are particularly welcome.

The organizing committee of the 17th Inuit Studies Conference announces a second call for papers. The University of Quebec in Abitibi-Temiscamingue (UQAT) and DIALOG (research and knowledge network relating to Aboriginal peoples) will host the Conference from 28-30 October 2010. The event will be held at the UQAT First Peoples Pavilion on the Val-d'Or campus, Quebec, Canada, under the theme "The Inuit and the Aboriginal World." The intention of this theme is to explore the common concerns of the Inuit and the other Aboriginal peoples throughout the world. Organizers have proposed the following sub-themes: (1) the environment; (2) climate change; (3) economic development; and (4) issues connected to languages, cultures, and education.

The main focus of the Polar Worlds Conference, 26-28 January 2010, is to account for observed changes with a joint environmental and social perspective. It seeks to give an overview of certainties and uncertainties in current mutations. A unique feature of this event will be to put different scientific communities (anthropology, linguistics, history, archaeology, geography, geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, biology, climatology, health, and others) into common work sessions. In order to encourage interdisciplinary interactions, plenary sessions will be preferred, but there will also be a few specialized workshops. This multidisciplinary approach is based on the experience of the conference organizing group, the Polar Mutations: Environment and Societies Research Group (CNRS, France), which has been promoting interdisciplinarity in arctic studies for 30 years.

The First International Conference on Indigenous Place Names (ICIPN) will be held 3-8 September 2010 at Sami University College in Guovdageaidnu, Norway. ICIPN will be the first time Indigenous place names and place naming will be discussed from multidisciplinary perspectives, with presentations from various Indigenous societies. The official conference languages are North Sami and English. There will be simultaneous interpretation in the auditorium at the conference venue, Diehtosiida.

Northern Notes is the newsletter of the International Arctic Social Sciences Association, IASSA. It is published on the web by the IASSA secretariat twice a year with a Spring/Summer and a Fall/Winter issue, and is available to all web users.

IASSA invites contributions for the next issue of the Northern Notes newsletter. Contributions are invited from both members and non-members of the Association on issues of interest to Arctic social scientists. Contributions should be submitted by 23 April 2010 to IASSA secretary, Lára Ólafsdóttir, at iassa[at]svs.is. Contributions to Northern Notes may include special features on issues and topics of interest to Arctic social scientists, information and announcements, announcements of meetings, workshops or conferences, news about upcoming activities, information about new publications, and announcements of new websites and links of interest.