Cold Waters : Tangible and Symbolic Seascapes of the North

This book addresses the Arctic and the northern regions by exploring cold waters and northern seascapes. It focuses on cultural discourses and artistic representations concerning the human experience and imagination of how the Arctic Ocean has been explored and used. It aims to assess what is specific to the northern waters vis-à-vis other sea and water areas in the world. The contextual background is provided by the fundamental shift from terra-based thinking towards aqua-based thinking, including the histories of the northern waters and the innovative ocean studies of the last decades. This book will be of interest to readers in Arctic studies and Sea and Ocean studies (including those with interests in literature, history, cultural and film studies, anthropology and politics), Environmental History and Cultural studies as well as in Russian studies. The book has been assembled with a view towards upper-level undergraduate and post-graduate students and scholars and will also be appropriate for courses in the fields mentioned above. The book will be of interest to specialists working in and with Arctic environmental issues. There is a broad array of international academic networks, environmental, governance and cultural associations outside academia whose members may also find the book of interest. Note on Transliteration 6 Northern Waters: From Terrestrial to Water-Bound Knowledge 7 Cold Water in Focus 10 Part I: Mediating the Change 14 Part II: Hydrological Space and Politics 15 Part III: Narrating and Visualizing Cold Waters 18 References 21 Contents 24 About the Contributors 26 List of Figures 31 Part I: Mediating the Change 32 Chapter 1: The Problem of Plastic in the Arctic 33 1.1 The Peculiar Arctic Plastic 36 1.2 From Funny Plastic Toys on an Arctic Expedition... 38 1.3 ... to Worried Oceanographers 40 1.4 The Plastic Debris and the Cold Water 42 1.5 Conclusion 44 References 45 Chapter 2: Rivers through the Prism of Oil Spills: Native Voices from the Russian Arctic 48 2.1 Introduction 48 2.2 Introducing the Voices of Pechora Residents into the Oil-Water Debate: Theory and Method 51 2.3 Oil Spills in the Komi Republic: An Overview 53 2.4 The Transformative Power of an Oil Spill: The Usinsk Disaster 54 2.5 Death, Loss and Emptiness: Natives’ Representations of Pechora Homeland 56 2.6 Conclusions 59 References 60 Chapter 3: Baltic Seals and Changing Marine Frontiers in the Twentieth Century 63 3.1 Introduction 63 3.2 The Baltic Sea as the Hunting Frontier 66 3.3 Seals at the Chemical Frontier 68 3.4 Victims of the Iceless Climate Frontier 72 3.5 Conclusions 75 References 76 Chapter 4: Conceptualizing Arctic Documentary: Combining Scientific Authority and the Interests of Broadcasters in BBC’s Frozen Planet 79 4.1 Introduction 79 4.2 Selecting Knowledge for Entertainment Through Nature Documentaries 81 4.3 Ice, Snow and Bears 84 4.4 Economies of Celebrity Endorsement 87 4.5 Conclusion 91 References 92 Documentaries 92 Literature 92 Part II: Hydrological Space and Politics 95 Chapter 5: The Voice of Ice in the Turku Archipelago: Narrating Icegraphy with Environmental Ethnography 96 5.1 Introduction 96 5.2 Environmental Ethnography 100 5.2.1 Producing Local Ecological Knowledge 101 5.3 Nostalgic Narration 103 5.4 Icegraphy – Living with Ice 104 5.4.1 Sensing and Reading the Ice 105 5.4.2 Making and Breaking Routes with Ice 106 5.4.3 Growing with Ice 109 5.5 Conclusion 110 References 112 Research Material 112 Literature 112 Chapter 6: The “International” in Water–Society Relations: A Case Study of an Arctic Urban Watershed 115 6.1 The Problem of the “International” in Water–Society Relations 117 6.2 Eventalization as a Method 118 6.3 The Watershed in Rovaniemi 120 6.4 The Complex Situation in the Watershed 121 6.5 Mapping of Social Arenas and Worlds in the Watershed 124 6.6 The Future of the Watershed 125 6.7 Final Remarks 126 References 127 Chapter 7: Living by the River: Means, Meanings and Sense of Place 131 7.1 Introduction 132 7.2 Place and Water 133 7.3 “Means” of Living-by-the-River 134 7.4 Living by the River and Drinking Water 135 7.5 Between “Mundane” and “Aesthetic” 138 7.6 River and Grass 140 7.7 River and Floods 142 7.8 People and River Biographies 144 7.9 Voice of the River: Human–More-than-Human Relationship 146 7.10 Conclusion 149 References 150 Chapter 8: Emerging Trends in Arctic North America’s Maritime Security Agenda: From Ice to Water 153 8.1 Setting the Geopolitical Stage: The North in Classical Geopolitics 155 8.2 Classical Geopolitical Futures in a Melting Arctic? 157 8.3 Transformations 159 8.4 From Ice to Water: New Security Frameworks 161 8.5 Environmental Security 163 8.6 Intersections 164 8.7 Conclusions 166 References 167 Part III: Narrating and Visualizing Cold Waters 170 Chapter 9: Between Pomor Traditions and Arctic Modernities: The Northern Sea in Early Soviet Pomor Literature 171 9.1 Shergin’s Stories and Pisakhov’s Fairy Tales, Essays and Diaries 175 9.2 The Russian Arctic Ocean 176 9.3 Heroic Shipbuilders and Seafarers 180 9.4 The Northern Sea as an Inexhaustible Source of Natural Resources 183 9.5 Conclusion 185 References 185 Chapter 10: Water, Oil and Spirits: Liquid Maps of the Taiga in Eremei Aipin’s Novel Khanty, or the Star of the Dawn 188 10.1 Khanty, or the Star of the Dawn as a Native Historiography 190 10.2 Postcolonial Ecocriticism, Mapping and Memory 191 10.3 Mapping with the River 193 10.4 Mapping Temporalities 195 10.5 Settler-Colonial Mapping and Oil 197 10.6 Flows of Slow Violence 200 10.7 Conclusion 202 References 203 Chapter 11: The Ambiguity of the Arctic Littoral: Changing Perspectives of Chukchi Communities in Two Russian Films 206 11.1 The Most Beautiful Ships 209 11.2 Flashbacks of Trauma 210 11.3 The Potential of Art and its Imaginary Powers 211 11.4 The Whaler Boy, a Post-Soviet Return to the Arctic Shore 214 11.5 Spectres of Extinction 215 11.6 Dissolving Borders and Identities 216 11.7 Littoral Dreaming and Awakenings 218 11.8 Conclusions 221 References 223 Filmography 223 Literature 223 Chapter 12: “The Silvery Song of Water”: Nature, Experience, and Time in Paul Harding’s Fiction 227 12.1 Consciousness and Water 229 12.2 Transcendentalism and Materialism 232 12.3 Winter Minds and Cold Water 235 12.4 Water, Immersion, and Memory 239 12.5 Conclusion 243 References 243 Chapter 13: Speculative Water: Atopic Space and Oceanic Agency in Julie Bertagna’s Raging Earth Trilogy 246 13.1 Mara in Water 249 13.2 Atopic Greenland 253 13.3 Information Flows 256 13.4 Tuck on Land 258 13.5 Conclusion 260 References 261 Index 263 "This book addresses the Arctic and the northern regions by exploring cold waters and northern seascapes. It focuses on cultural discourses and artistic representations concerning the human experience and imagination of how the Arctic Ocean has been explored and used. It aims to assess what is specific to the northern waters vis-à-vis other sea and water areas in the world. The contextual background is provided by the fundamental shift from terra-based thinking towards aqua-based thinking, including the histories of the northern waters and the innovative ocean studies of the last decades. This book will be of interest to readers in Arctic studies and Sea and Ocean studies (including those with interests in literature, history, cultural and film studies, anthropology and politics), Environmental History and Cultural studies as well as in Russian studies. The book has been assembled with a view towards upper-level undergraduate and post-graduate students and scholars and will also be appropriate for courses in the fields mentioned above. The book will be of interest to specialists working in and with Arctic environmental issues. There is a broad array of international academic networks, environmental, governance and cultural associations outside academia whose members may also find the book of interest."--Back cover This book addresses the Arctic and the northern regions by exploring cold waters and northern seascapes. It focuses on cultural discourses and artistic representations concerning the human experience and imagination of how the Arctic Ocean has been explored and used. It aims to assess what is specific to the northern waters vis-a-vis other sea and water areas in the world. The contextual background is provided by the fundamental shift from terra-based thinking towards aqua-based thinking, including the histories of the northern waters and the innovative ocean studies of the last decades. This book will be of interest to readers in Arctic studies and Sea and Ocean studies (including those with interests in literature, history, cultural and film studies, anthropology and politics), Environmental History and Cultural studies as well as in Russian studies. The book has been assembled with a view towards upper-level undergraduate and post-graduate students and scholars and will also be appropriate for courses in the fields mentioned above. The book will be of interest to specialists working in and with Arctic environmental issues. There is a broad array of international academic networks, environmental, governance and cultural associations outside academia whose members may also find the book of interest