In Climate Thinking Change we speak with Dr. Lawrence Hamilton of the University of New Hampshire about the survey work he has done to get closer to American perceptions of the Arctic. This radio expedition is most interested in exploring to what extent our geographical knowledge of the Arctic impacts how we might think about this far north region in social, political and environmental contexts.
Poster Bear is the second part of a two-episode exploration of two polar bears—the one that travels along the ice and the other one that circulates in the media. Joining us is Dorothea Born, a Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholar from Mitteleuropa. Born’s work examines the polar bear as an icon for the visual communication of climate change in popular science magazines.
On expedition in Svalbard we encountered the circa 1930s cabin that pioneer female big game hunter and writer Wanny Wolstad lived in during five overwinters. Literature scholar Dr. Ingrid Urberg contextualizes Wolstad and her writings within the works of other „Svalbard Daughters“ whose narratives collectively challenged the overtly masculine storytelling about the Arctic landscape all the while asking us to reconsider how we imagine the polar north.
In Asking Svalbard we begin to move beyond generalization about the Arctic. By digging deeper we interrogate a place that might only exist on the fringes of our imaginations-Svalbard, Norway. Located in the Arctic Circle, this archipelago is home to over 2,500 people. Guiding us in this radio expedition is Rolf Stange , author of the top-selling guidebook for this country of the cold shores.
