Call for Papers: Colonialism, Postcolonialism, and Antarctica

Colonialism, Postcolonialism, and Antarctica

December 3-4, 2020 at the University of Oslo

Does Antarctica have a colonial history? Has it entered a postcolonial present? And are those terms even appropriate for a continent without an Indigenous population, a continent that is paradigmatically represented as a space for science and peace that is exceptional to the processes governing the rest of the world? The aim of this workshop, sponsored by the projects “Political Philosophy Looks to Antarctica” and “Greening the Poles: Science, the Environment, and the Creation of the Modern Arctic and Antarctic”, is to critically explore these and related questions. The aim is to produce an edited volume that poses fundamental questions about how power has been exercised in Antarctica in the past – and how it continues to be exercised in the present – and about the analytic limits of colonialism and postcolonialism in Antarctica and beyond, in sites like the outer space or the deep seabed.

Our aim is to bring scholars of Antarctica and the polar regions into conversations with historians, philosophers, and geographers who study colonial and postcolonial processes elsewhere in the world. As such, we welcome submissions from scholars at all career stages who can speak to this topic. Our primary focus is on deeper conceptual issues related to the concepts of colonialism and postcolonialism in Antarctica and other spaces without Indigenous populations. Applicants should submit a 500-word abstract (max) with contact details to Oda Davanger (o.s.davanger@iss.uio.no), no later than March 30. Successful applicants will be notified by April 20. The workshop will consist of pre-circulated papers and applicants should be prepared to deliver a draft paper suitable for commentary and discussion (of c. 6000 words) by November 15. Travel funding is available for successful applicants.

“Political Philosophy Looks to Antarctica” is financed by the Polar Program of the Research Council of Norway. “Greening the Poles” is financed by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. [716211 – GRETPOL]). The workshop organizers are Associate Professor Alejandra Mancilla (University of Oslo, alejandra.mancilla@ifikk.uio.no) and Associate Professor Peder Roberts (University of Stavanger, peder.w.roberts@uis.no).