Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details


PROPOSAL INFORMATION

(ID No: 23)

Indigenous Peoples of the North and the Globalised World: Local Perspectives on Nature, Risks and Landscapes.  (Perspectives on Nature, Risks and Landscapes)

Outline
The proposed project deals with the analysis of two discourses of the perception of nature, risks and landscapes. On the one hand there is the dominant Euro-American environmental discourse regarding nature at risk as a result of unintended consequences of human actions. The human beings of the 21st century live in a so-called “risk society” where a new quality of risk appears. As an outcome in Western societies the global environment, the whole planet earth, is perceived at risk. There is a deep faith in sciences and research as well as trust in the expert system of modern societies. Their rationality has so far found solutions to every problem and will find solutions in the future. On the other hand there are local perspectives of how indigenous peoples of the North perceive nature, risks and their own landscapes. These perspectives are often missing when environmental changes are identified and discussed. For instance, the Arctic ecosystems are faced with serious local and global environmental pressures, including local threats of wildlife by over-hunting as well as global transformations as climate change or contaminants in high levels, particularly concerning the food chain. Hence, there is an increasing involvement of Western (natural) sciences in the Arctic to analyse these changes on a scientific basis and to propose action plans for local policy makers. Convinced by the urgent call for action, American or European biologists and environmentalists try to implement their concepts of “nature”, “risk” and “sustainability”, which are derived from the contemporary debates in their respective societies. Local perspectives contradict and as a consequence there are more and more conflicts. The International Polar Year 2007-08 could be seen as a chance to take into account the perspectives of indigenous peoples of the North. The research questions for a circumpolar qualitative investigation in e.g. Greenland, Alaska, Canada, Nunavut and Siberia are: Where does the dominant Euro-American environmental discourse come from? How do indigenous peoples of the North perceive their environment and ‘nature’? What kind of ‘risks’ are identified and what are the socio-economic consequences? What can they contribute to the local and global environmental pressures? How can their local knowledge be integrated in resource management systems and scientific analysis of climate change? In which way could local expert systems be an equal partner to scientific expert systems? How can there be a mutual cultural understanding of each other to build up together a sustainable world?

Theme(s)   Major Target
The current state of the polar environment
Change in the polar regions
Polar-global linkages and teleconnections
The human dimension in polar regions
  Natural or social sciences research
Education/Outreach and Communication

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
This proposed project will focus on both social-cultural research of local perceptions as well as reflexive accompanying research of natural sciences. Polar peoples (as e.g. Greenlanders) are seen as partners in research and therefore their perception on status and change of the natural environment (e.g. climate change) is needed as well. In the past, these perspectives were marginalised. The hypothesis of this project is that historical, social and cultural dimensions have led to two different discourses on nature, risk and landscapes. In analysing these two discourses a mutual cultural understanding of each other is possible.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
Close Colleague: Frank Sejersen (IPY idea 323), Eskimology and Arctic Studies (www.hum.ku.dk/eskimo) Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (www.tors.ku.dk) University of Copenhagen Strandgade 100H 1401 Copenhagen K, Denmark Open Collaboration to University of Greenland Ilisimatusarfik (http://www.ilisimatusarfik.gl/)


FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Field activities will be done in Greenland.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 05/2007 – 07/2007      09/2008 – 10/2008      
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
No significant logistic support/facilities will be required.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
There is no legacy of infrastructure. However, this project will provide an ethically and culturally contribution to environmental change (e.g. climate change). Therefore the outcome of this project will be communicated to the scientific community as well as to the public (Workshops, Lectures, Publication in English and Greenlandic).

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
This project will be supported by the German IPY committee and is part of the IASSA IPY Facilitation Initiative (http://www.uaf.edu/anthro/iassa/).


PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
New

This proposed project is a new autonomous proposal.

How will the project be organised and managed?
This project is a self-managed, free-standing project. However, one international scientific conference will be organised to exchange ideas concerning the local perceptions of nature, risks and landscapes as well as one workshop to collaborate with Frank Sejersen (IPY idea 323, Eskimology and Arctic Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark) and other Arctic social scientists and one other workshop to communicate with locals in Greenland (see below).

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
The second proposed field activity will involve local communities. A workshop will be organised to discuss the results of the research with locals in their own language. This communication process is suited to prove the scientific hypothesis and to get more valid data. In the end a Greenlandic version of the project report will be published.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?

How is it proposed to fund the project?
National funding.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
This project focuses only on Greenland. There is the wish to extend the regional focus and to include other Arctic countries as Alaska, Canada, Nunavut and Siberia (see the IASSA IPY Facilitation Initiative).


PROPOSER DETAILS

Mr Frank J. Sowa
Friedrich Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg
Research Centre for Social Sciences (SFZ)
Findelgasse 7-9, Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
90402
Germany

Tel: +49 911 53 02 632
Mobile: no
Fax: +49 911 53 02 637
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation

Name   Affiliation