Warm reception for new polar studies journal in Iceland
27 July 2011
A University of Canterbury-based international polar studies journal has been welcomed by social scientists at the launch of its first issue in Iceland.
At the launch of the first issue of "The Polar Journal" in Iceland are (from left) Dr Urban Wrakberg, Dr Daniela Liggett, Dr Joan Nyman Larsen, Associate Professor Anne-Marie Brady and Professor Oran Young.
A University of Canterbury-based international polar studies journal has been welcomed by social scientists at the launch of its first issue in Iceland.
The inaugural issue of The Polar Journal, an initiative of UC political scientist Associate Professor Anne-Marie Brady (Social and Political Sciences), was officially released at the Seventh International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences held in Akureyri, Iceland, recently.
Professor Brady, who is editor-in-chief of the biannual multi-disciplinary journal, said delegates at the conference were “really interested and very positive” about the publication, which is supported by UC’s centre for Antarctic studies and research, Gateway Antarctica.
“The feedback we got was that it was something that really needed to be done as there is no other scholarly journal that brings together social scientists and those in the humanities whose research focus is on the polar regions.”
Professor Brady said while there were a number of publications and programmes available for scientists working on Arctic and Antarctic issues, there were no similar opportunities for social scientists.
“Yet there are many social science issues affecting the polar regions, such as issues surrounding governance, the rights of indigenous populations, access to resources, shipping rights and the impact of tourists. So there is a lot to write about in both the Arctic and Antarctic and this journal will allow the publication of timely research that we believe will have policy implications.”
The first issue of the journal, available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpol20/current, has been edited by Associate Professor Marcus Haward from the University of Tasmania and centres on the theme of Antarctic governance. It includes a paper by Dr Alan Hemmings, an Adjunct Associate Professor at Gateway Antarctica and Research Associate at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, which questions the lack of an international Antarctic station. The paper was picked up in an article featured in USA Today.
Other articles look at US foreign policy interests in Antarctica; suggested reform of the Madrid Environmental Protection Protocol; the history of international politics of Antarctica as imperialism; the history and search for a monoplane taken to Antarctica during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914; managing the historic sites in the Antarctic; and an article by UC academic Associate Professor Leo-Paul Dana (Management) on the entrepreneurship of the reindeer herders of Finland.
The journal also features book reviews and a section on conference reports and announcements, put together by Dr Daniela Liggett from Gateway Antarctica.
“We want to become the natural place where people can access and submit reports of conferences and meetings with the goal of increasing transparency.”
The Polar Journal has an editorial board of 24 academics from around the world and each will have a turn at editing an issue. The next issue of the journal – due out in December this year - will be edited by Dr Elizabeth Leane from the University of Tasmania. It will have a cultural studies theme, looking at the literary and artistic interpretations of Antarctica.
The Polar Journal can be followed on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/thepolarjournal.
For more information please contact:
Associate Professor Anne-Marie Brady
Editor-in-chief, The Polar Journal
School of Social and Political Sciences
University of Canterbury
Ph: (03) 364 2809
anne-marie.brady@canterbury.ac.nz
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