Re-Imagining Area Studies in the 21st Century
Arctic Fellows Research Symposium & Reception

Friday, 30 May 2014 | 3:30-7:00pm | Odegaard 220, University of Washington

RSVP is necessary; at canada@uw.edu.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,
You are invited to the University of Washington 2013-2014 Arctic Fellows Research Symposium & Reception. The fellows will be presenting their research and we'd love to have you join! See the students and their projects below.

Arctic Research Fellows

Linda Cuadra, Southeast Asian Studies, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Research project: Strange Neighbors: Singapore and the Arctic Council
Faculty advisor: Anand Yang, Jackson School
The research will consider whether this unique forum (The Arctic Council) and the potential shift of power within it provide opportunities for a small but financially important state to relate in new ways with global geopolitics.

Joshua Griffin, Anthropology
Research project: Rethinking Arctic Vulnerability: Transdisciplinary Praxis, Climate Adaptation, and Composing a Common World in Northwest Alaska
Faculty advisor: Sven Haakanson, Anthropology/Burke Museum
Drawing on two years of collaboration between the Iñupiaq community of Kivalina and the Re-Locate Project (http://www.relocate-ak.org/), this paper evaluates existing social science, legal, and representational frameworks of human climate vulnerability in the Arctic and proposes a compositional transdisciplinary praxis rooted in ethnography, critical legal theory, and social arts.

Michael Hank, Evans School of Public & International Affairs
Research project: Comparative Arctic Policy Analysis between sub-National Governments of Alaska and Quebec
Faculty advisor: Joël Plouffe, l'Université de l'administration publique, Montréal, Québec
The thesis and problem statement for this project paper is how will Alaska and Quebec implement their northern development and infrastructure plans through coordinated projects while maintaining governance and social equity for all inhabitants with the cooperation and assistance of the Indigenous people?

Jessica McGrath, Marine & Environmental Affairs
Research project: Evaluating Arctic State Implementation of Ecosystem-Based Management Recommendations Supported by the Arctic Council: Norway, Canada, and the US
Faculty advisor: Nives Dolsak & David Fluharty, Marine & Environment Affairs
This research project will provide a comparative study and evaluation of Norway, Canada, and the US, three key State leaders in Arctic governance, and their implementation of Arctic Council Recommendations regarding Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) since 2009.

Brandon Ray, Atmospheric Science
Joint research project with Brit Sojka: The Triple Point of Arctic Change: Integrating the Influence of Inuit Leadership, Climate Change Science and International Policymaking
Faculty advisor: Nadine Fabbi, Canadian Studies
This project focuses on how the narratives surrounding major climate change reports—from Inuit leaders and the international climate change science and policy communities—are reshaping Arctic identities, the design of Arctic research, and Arctic environmental policy.

Britteni Sojka, Marine & Environmental Affairs
Joint research project with Brandon Ray (see above).

Nathan Stackpoole, Japan Studies, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Research project: The New Observers: East Asian Policy in the Arctic Circle
Faculty Advisors: Don Hellmann, Jackson School & Vincent Gallucci, Aquatic & Fishery Sciences
With recent admission to the Arctic Council the countries of China, Japan, and South Korea are showing a great deal of interest in the Arctic Circle. With increased spending on climate change research, and investment in collection of the Arctic's maritime resources. This paper focuses on the policies of these new observers in the Arctic Council and how they will influence the emerging geopolitical region of the Arctic.

Jason Young, Geography
Research project: Framing Environmental Management: An Exploratory Analysis of Technological Empowerment in the Arctic
Faculty advisor: Sarah Elwood, Geography
This research project examines what types of discursive strategies Canadian Inuit and environmentalist groups use in representing environmental management of polar bears, in order to better understand how online politics and inequalities affect how the Arctic is represented to broader global audiences.


The Arctic as an “Emerging” World Region

The objectives of the fellowships are to foster innovative research that strengthens area studies at the University and to build vital research linkages across disciplines, particularly between the natural and social sciences and the humanities, on a range of issues related to the Arctic. These research papers will focus on the Arctic as an emerging world region from a variety of perspectives.

Arctic Research Fellowships are supported by funding from the College of Arts & Sciences for the project, Re-Imagining Area & International Studies in the 21st Century: The Arctic as an Emerging World Region. The Arctic Research Fellows program is led by the Canadian Studies Center in collaboration with UW’s Future of Ice.