Peter Hemmersam
Arcticness (or Northernness) has been expressed in the planning and design of Arctic cities over the past century. This paper explores how the imaginary conveyed in this notion has influenced the urbanism and architecture of northern communities in different ways. It traces the convergence of national urbanisms of the North towards an architectural idea of an ‘Arctic city’ during the latter half of the twentieth century. The exceptionalism expressed as Arcticness became central to the architectural discourse on urban liveability across the circumpolar region during the 1970s and 1980s. However, concerns over Arcticness obscured the presence of urbanity in urban planning and development in the North. The paper concludes with a discussion of the contemporary use and relevance of Arcticness in developing new architectural identities in northern cities. Such identities are cultivated as a component of city branding for tourists, investors and ‘creative’ knowledge workers. Today, cities promote Arcticness in their aspiration to become a ‘Capital of the Arctic’.
Pigga Keskitalo & Torjer Olsen
This chapter discusses the most important issues of educational eras in different phases conducted by the Lutheran Church and four current national states where Sámi people live: Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. The early phases are described by the civilization process conducted by the Church between the 1600s and the 1850s and nationalism between the 1850s and the 1950s by the national states. These actions created the Sámi’s experiences of oppression, inequality and Othering while at the same time, finding ways to empowerment. Since the 1960s, and in particular, in the last four decades, there has been a process of revitalising and recognising Sámi languages, culture and rights. An important part of this is the expansion of Sámi education with the ambition that everyone in states with Sámi population receives basic knowledge of Sámi history, culture, society and rights. This chapter is based on the first workshop in the Indigenous Pedagogy in Teacher Education (IPED) series funded by Academy of Finland NOS-HS theme to promote the Nordic network in educational fields. This article has two tasks: to present the historical background and development of Sámi education and to discuss the present challenges in Sámi education. An important and innovative perspective in the article is the cross-border dimension of looking at several aspects of Sámi concerns in education, with special focus on teacher education.
Helena Gonzales Lindberg
Maps have the ability to make abstract information visible and real to their audiences. They provide humans a way toconceptualize and understand places and issues that otherwise might seem both distant and abstract. This article argues that maps influence what issues are visible and knowable and what issues are silenced and disregarded, often giving prominence todominant understandings. As such, maps help constitute what is considered politically possible in terms of governing problemssuch as climate change or pressing ahead wi th new policy initiatives pertaining to economic development. Specifically, this article seeks to understand the power of maps in the context of the Arctic region, where maps can be seen as central to constructing imaginaries and indirect experiences of the Arctic. I suggest that Arctic processes and possibilities are difficult to communicateto au diences, let alone imagined, without the use of maps. To illustrate the constitutive power of maps in the Arctic, I deconstruct a set of two maps depicting oil and gas potential in the Arctic coming from a fact sheet by the U. S. Geological Survey. The analysis focuses on the ways in which these maps enable and limit certain conceptualizations and visions of ’the Arctic’ and politics within that region. I contend that maps are powerful because they shape generally held assumptions about the Arctic,often s erving already dominant interests and visions about the future.
Guest Editor Robert P. Wheelersburg
An astonishing aspect of the now blossoming interest in Arctic research is how much public attention the environmental changes associated with global warming are receiving but how little emphasis is placed on how those physical processes are influencing cultural change in the region. While Arctic politicians and mass media outlets comment on how rapidly the North is being altered physically, it is important for scholars to help people understand how much culture is evolving in the Arctic for both Indigenous and introduced (i.e., settler) residents. Toward that end, this section’s contributions use art, most produced by Arctic dwellers themselves, and analysis of traditional behaviors to examine the region’s cultural diversity and richness.
Timo Jokela, Maria Huhmarniemi, Ruth Beer & Anna Soloviova
The article presents the concept of new genre Arctic art and examples of contemporary art, performances and media productions covering Arctic themes such as resource politics, nature conservation and sustainability. Examples are selected from Norway, Finland, Canada and Russia. The term new genre Arctic art is based on concept of new genre public art introduced by the artist-writer Suzanne Lacy in 1900s to define socially engaged and socio-political public art that involved participatory aesthetics. To some extent, new genre Arctic art follows the strategies of socially and environmentally engaged art in line with international contemporary art. Anyhow, in this article we focus on explaining how new genre Arctic art promotes cultural continuity and pride and possess the agency to hold and revitalise Indigenous and northern knowledge. The selected cases show how artists can empower community members and participants of performances in participation in discussion on resource politics and nature conversation.
Katri Sofia Konttinen
Place is an intriguing concept. It is often at the core of applied visual art actions, which can be related, for example, to environmental and community arts and design. Applied visual art can also support sustainable development by increasing the awareness of environments (Huhmarniemi, 2012). At the core of this is collaboration and communication between people and the environments. The Arctic spreads geographically across eight northern countries including Finland. The Arctic is researched and discussed from various perspectives in arts and design in northern Finland. The Lapland University Consortium (LUC) has been profiled as a leader in Arctic research and competence focusing on global Arctic responsibility, sustainable tourism, future services and reachability. Arctic art and design intertwine in studies at the University of Lapland. Rovaniemi is well known for Arctic design and different events such as Arctic Design Week (Rytilahti, 2020). However, there is need for better discussion about the Arctic. This chapter approaches this discussion by observing how art and design-based actions with a place-specific approach could contribute to the discussion of increasing awareness and knowledge on the Arctic. What could be achieved through methods that aim towards deepening our understanding of places and environments? The chapter observes the topic through art and design-based actions, which have taken place between 2012-2020. The examples present actions combined through utilizing a place-specific and multisensory approach to environments with methods rising from community art, environmental art, and design – all these meeting under the label of applied visual arts and aim for creating connections and enabling dialogue towards increasing knowledge and awareness of places.
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