Course descriptor Title of the course History of Arctic and Baltic Region Title of the Academic Programme BA in History Type of Course Elective Prerequisites - Students should be familiar with the general contours of the world history from the 16th c. to the present. - upper-intermediate or advanced reading, writing and speaking skills in English. ECTS workload 5 Total indicative study hours Directed Study Self-directed study Total 68 122 190 Course Overview This course focuses on the economic, social, environmental, political and cultural history of the Arctic and Circumpolar North. It introduces a wide interdisciplinary view on diverse human experiences in the North. Within the course students will learn about key works and directions in circumpolar studies. The course will examine such themes as the interplay between the outside, expert and indigenous knowledge, expectations and experiences in the North, human and non-human connections in history of the area. It will emphasize analytical approaches both as a means to particular Arctic specialties and as an avenue for integrating into the educational programme research methods and theory from social and natural sciences. Key historical trends will be examined to demonstrate how the North was incorporated into nation-states that govern the circumpolar regions of the world. The course will locate the development of the Circumpolar North in larger historical trends of colonial and post-colonial studies, history of science and exploration, technology and environment, international efforts in region-building in the Arctic and national concerns of different states on security, resources and human-being in the North. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO) Indicative Course Content The course will provide knowledge according to the following topics: 1) Introduction to studies of the Circumpolar North: key dates and history. History of the North in the framework of colonial and post-colonial studies. Different meanings of the North and the Arctic in Scandinavian, Canadian, Russian history. Circumpolar North vs Arctic: region-building processes in the second half of the 20th century. 2) Role of natural resources and environment in the history of the Circumpolar North. Experts knowledge in exploration and the exploitation of the North. History of the Arctic Ocean. 3) Peoples and cultures in the context of polar history. Indigenous knowledge vs expert knowledge. 4) History of international relations, international organizations, scientific activities and modes of governance (Artic Council, International Polar Years etc.) in the Arctic. Comparative history of the Arctic and Antarctic. Teaching and Learning Methods The course consists of lectures (42 hours) and seminars (42 hours). Indicative Assessment Methods and Strategy The grade will be composed of attendance, class participation, team work assignment and presentation of results, written essay and the oral exam. The final grade is drawn on the 10-grades scale. The final grade’s composition will be the following: oral examination (20%); coursework (80%). Readings / Indicative Learning Resources 1. Arlov, Thor B. The Discovery and Early Exploitation of Svalbard. Some Historiographical Notes // Acta Borealia 2005, vol. 22: 3 -19. 2. Avango, D., Nilsson A., Roberts P.. Assessing Arctic futures: voices, resources and governance // The Polar Journal 2013. DOI:10.1080/2154896X.2013.790197 3. Doel, Ron, Robert Marc Friedman, Julia Lajus, Sverker Sorlin, Urban Wrakberg. Strategic Arctic science: national interests in building natural knowledge - interwar era through the Cold War // Journal of Historical Geography 2014, 44: 60-80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2013.12.004 4. Farish, Matthew and Lackenbauer Whitney P. High modernism in the Arctic: planning Frobisher Bay and Inuvik // Journal of Historical Geography 2009, vol. 35: 517–544. 5. Granberg, Leo. Constructing the Barents Region: the play and the audience // The Snowbelt. Studies of the European North in Transition. Helsinki, 1998, pp. 231 – 261. 6. Lajus, Julia. Colonization of the Russian North: a Frozen Frontier // Cultivating the Colony: Colonial States and their environmental legacies. Athens OH, 2011, pp. 164 – 190. 7. Narrating the Arctic. A Cultural History of Nordic Scientific Practices. Ed. by S. Sorlin & M. Bravo. Canton, MA: Science History Publications, 2002. 8. Northscapes: History, Technology, and the Making of Northern Environments. Dolly Jorgensen & Sverker Sorlin, eds., Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2013. 9. Piper, Lisa and Sandlos, John. A Broken Frontier: Ecological Imperialism in the Canadian North // Environmental History 12 (October 2007): 759-95. 10. Science, Geopolitics and Culture in the Polar Region: Norden beyond Borders, ed. S. Sörlin. Farnham: Ashgate, 2013. 11. Slezkine, Yuri. Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1994. 12. The History of the International Polar Years (IPYs) / Susan Barr & Cornelia Luedecke, ed. Series: From Pole to Pole. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2010. IX, 319. 13. Zeller, Suzanne and Reis, Christopher. Wild men in and out of science: finding a place in the disciplinary borderlands of Arctic Canada and Greenland // Journal of Historical Geography 2014, vol. 44: 31 – 43. Course Instructor Associate professor Julia Lajus