Arctic Voices in Art and Literature in the Long 19th Century

Contributing to the ongoing efforts of decolonizing dominant Arctic History, this project gathers stories that point to those who were on the receiving end of imperialism in the extended nineteenth century. We engage in untold or unpublished histories of colonial encounters between Arctic Indigenous peoples or Arctic animals and agents of empire (European, settler-American or Russian) through analyses of nineteenth-century texts, images and objects originating in cultural and naturalcultural contact zones.

Analysing this material, we apply and develop concepts and methodologies rooted in post- and decolonial theory and research methods, feminist ecocriticism and Indigenous methodologies in order to: 1) expose the illusions of the modern progress narratives (scientific, material, moral) that accompanied colonial ventures in the Arctic region; 2) document the impact Euro-American and Russian imperialism had on human and animal life in the Arctic region; and, 3) foreground the knowledge, creative expressions, experience, resilience and resistance of Arctic Indigenous peoples and communities.

Essential to our approach is the active pursuit and inclusion of Indigenous history, knowledge and perspectives by engaging relevant anthropological and Indigenous research, knowledge holders and communities in the process and output.