Since the late 1980s research in social sciences and humanities in the circumpolar north has expanded thematically and geographically and experienced considerable changes and adaptations in methodologies and applications. These processes evolved from the collapse of the political and ideological bipolarity that had existed in the arctic and subarctic for some 70 years during the 20th century. This bipolar isolation also had an impact on scientific endeavours in the northern circumpolar regions. These new developments allowed for energetic and innovative research initiatives that resulted in the emergence of the international research community of arctic social scientists within and outside the circumpolar north. Trans-cultural and trans-national institutions, associations, large-scale collaborative research schemes, individual long-term field studies, and academic study programs were founded and conducted which have shaped northern research at the beginning of the 21st century. An example of such initiatives is the Working Group Arctic and Subarctic (AAS—Arbeitsgemeinschaft Arktis und Subarktis—http://www.sub-arctic.ac.at), which was established in 1997 by engaged graduate students and faculty at the University of Vienna, Austria. The disciplines represented within this working group include anthropology, linguistics, Slavic and Nordic studies. The working group has become a rallying point of young northern social scientists in Central Europe, who, over the coming years, have extended their networks internationally. Their geographical focus in the circumpolar north has mainly been on Siberia and the Russian European North. In June 2000, the AAS brought together 24 social scientists and representatives of NGOs from Austria, almost half of them, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Russian Federation, and the USA to discuss their research conducted during the 1990s (Hirnsperger 2000). The book Bruchlinien im Eis—Ethnologie des zirkumpolaren Nordens (Crack Lines in the Ice. Ethnology of the Circumpolar North) presents the proceedings of this conference which consist of 19 contributions prefaced by Peter Schweitzer who is the editor of the newly established series Beiträge zum zirkumpolar347cumpolar Studies of which this book is the first volume. The introduction by the editorial team outlines the three thematic sections and the individual contributions; the sections’ headings are Ethnicity; Economy and Ecology; and History of Science. Most of the contributions were written in German originally, however, several articles were apparently translated either from Russian, English or other languages. Unfortunately, the editors did not give an indication of this process and chose not to mention the translation and translators giving them proper recognition either individually or as a team. The ambitions of the editorial team are similar to some earlier efforts to understand the social, economic, and ecological processes that have occurred throughout the circumpolar north (e.g., Berg 1973). The editors point out that it is not the aim of this compendium to cover and represent the circumpolar regions as a whole and evenly. Rather they stress that the examples discussed in the contributions, despite their geographical bias on northern Eurasia (i.e. mainly Siberia), serve as a base for further comparisons and interpretations within the expanding social sciences by highlighting specific common themes and issues. Because of the high quality of the various contributions, they are of interest to the readers of Études/Inuit/Studies although they fall outside the realm of this journal. Next to the contributions dealing with specific cases in the North of the Russian Federation, which are not reviewed here, there are two noteworthy contributions that touch upon the Inuit in the circumpolar North in Canada and Greenland. Verena Traeger, Legal Conflict—Inughuit vs. Denmark (pp. 71-86), provides a succinct and well-documented analysis of the history of Inughuit-American-Danish relations in northern Greenland with respect to the displacement of …
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References
- BERG, Gösta (ed.), 1973 Circumpolar Problems. Habitat, Economy and Social Relations in the Arctic, (A Symposium for Anthropological Research in the North, September 1969), Oxford, Pergamon Press.
- HIRNSPERGER, Markus (ed.), 2000 Conference: Siberia and the Circumpolar North. Contributions by Anthropologists and NGOs, Vienna, Working Group Arctic and Subarctic.
- KASTEN, Erich (ed.), 1994 Ethnologische Beiträge zur Circumpolarforschung, Band 1, Berlin, Reinhold Schletzer Verlag.