CALL FOR PAPERS
American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting
New Orleans, Louisiana, April 10-14, 2018
Paper Session: Indigenous gendered studies of the global changes in the Arctic: experiences, challenges, and prospects for research
Organizer: Vera Kuklina, Vera Solovyeva
Discussant: Jessica K. Graybill
Recent changes in geopolitical configurations; growing mobilities of people, goods, ideas; and the reality of climate change have variety of impacts on people and places. Indigenous groups are recognized as especially vulnerable (International Labor Organization, 2016) while simultaneously having expert knowledge on how environments and communities are impacted by climate changes (Krupnik & Jolly, 2002; Louis, 2007; Cruikshank, 2005; Comberti, 2016; Johnson, 2016). This dichotomy is especially evident in the Arctic and subarctic regions affected by extractive and infrastructural development, urbanization, environmental degradation, ethnic conflicts, cultural and spiritual heritage losses, broken relations between generations, and reduced “fate control”, among other things. As noted by Shaw et al., 2006 and others, there is need for better engagement by geographers with the experiences of indigeneity to understand the experiences of indigenous and non-indigenous groups in the North.
The levels of vulnerability and resilience vary within indigenous groups of different regions, age, gender, class, and sexuality. The gendered aspect of global change in the North today has been noted in the “gender shift” (in Russia; Povoroznyuk et al., 2016), “female flight” (Hamilton & Seyfrit, 1994; Rasmussen, 2009), gendered employment mobilities (Walsh, Valestrand, Gerrard, & Aure, 2013), masculinization of the traditional activities (Rasmussen, 2009; Ulturgasheva, 2012), and related to processes of urbanization (Peters, 2006).
There are specific issues that make the focus of indigenous gendered studies especially relevant. First, in many indigenous communities, women take leading roles (Bodenhorn, 1990; Vinokurova et al., 2004; Larsen & Fondahl, 2015). Second, indigenous communities are often characterized by return migration (Huskey et al, 2004), that make their presence in the Arctic more likely permanent than those existing settler communities. Finally, with increased infrastructural development and communication technologies, better links with remote communities can make the last ones more vocal and visible in the urban and metropolitan centers of decision-making. To expand our awareness of emerging issues of indigenous communities and increase their resilience, we need more collaborative efforts as in academia and with remote communities.
We seek theoretically grounded and practically oriented discussion on how indigenous gendered studies could contribute and shape the academic understanding of the global changes in the North. Papers may address, but are not limited to, the following:
- How do gendered differences among indigenous people affect our spatial perception, conceptualization, and action in the context of global changes?
- What are the best ways of integrating indigenous and gender-specific knowledge with Western scientific methods?
- How can indigenous researchers enhance dialogue among different members of local indigenous communities and global decision-makers to critically address the roles/rights ascribed for indigenous peopled that are gendered, age-ified, and regionalized?
- How can critical, feminist, and indigenous methodologies contribute to indigenous gendered studies?
Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words to Vera Kuklina (vvkuklina@gmail.com) and Vera Solovyeva (vera_solovyeva@yahoo.com)by O
References:
Technical Note. Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change: From Victims to Change Agents through Decent Work www.un.org/esa/socdev/
Bodenhorn, B. 1990. “„I‟m Not the Great Hunter, My Wife Is‟: Inupiat and Anthropological Models of Gender.” Etudes/Inuit/Studies 14(1-2):55-74.
Cruikshank, J. (2005). Do glaciers listen?: local knowledge, colonial encounters, and social imagination. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Huskey, L., Berman, M., & Hill, A. (2004). Leaving home, returning home: Migration as a labor market choice for Alaska Natives. The Annals of Regional Science (38), 75-92.
Louis, R.P. (2007). Can you hear us now? Voices from the margin: using Indigenous methodologies in geographic research, Geographical research 45 (2): 130-139.
Comberti, C., Thornton, T. and Korodimou, M. (2016) Addressing Indigenous Peoples’ Marginalisation at International Climate Negotiations: Adaptation and resilience at the margins.
Johnson, J.T., Howitt, R., Cajete, G., Berkes F., Louis R.P., and Kliskey, A. (2016). Weaving Indigenous and Sustainability Sciences to Diversify our Methods. Sustainability Science.
Coombes, B., Johnson, J.T., Howitt, R. (2014). Indigenous Geographies III: Methodological innovation and the unsettling of participatory research. Progress in Human Geography 38 (6): 845-854.
Hamilton, L.C., and Seyfrit, C.L. 1994. Female flight? Gender balance and outmigration by Native Alaskan villagers. Arctic Medical Research 53(Supplement 2):189 – 193.
Krupnik, Igor, and Jolly, Dyanna (eds.). 2002. The Earth is Faster Now: Indigenous Observations of Arctic Environmental Change. Fairbanks, Alaska: Arctic Research Consortium of the United States
Fondahl, G. (1998). Gaining ground?: Evenkis, land and reform in southeastern Siberia.
Shaw, W.S., Herman, R.D.K. and Dobbs, G.R., 2006: Encountering Indigeneity: re-imagining and decolonizing geography. Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography 88, 267–276.
Peters, E.J. (2006). “[W]e do not lose our treaty rights outside the… reserve”: challenging the scales of social service provision for First Nations women in Canadian cities. GeoJournal 65: 315-327.
Rasmussen R.O. 2009. Gender and Generation: Perspectives on Ongoing Social and Environmental Changes In The Arctic.: Signs: Journal Of Women In Culture And Society 34(3): 524-532.
Vinokurova, L.I., A.G. Popova, S.I. Boiakova, and E.T. Miarikianova. 2004. Zhenshchina Severa: Poisk novoi sotsial’noi identichnosti [Women of the North: The Quest for a New Social Identity]. Novosibirsk: Nauka.
Whyte, Kyle and Cuomo, Chris J., Ethics of Caring in Environmental Ethics: Indigenous and Feminist Philosophies (April 25, 2016). The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics. Edited by Stephen M Gardiner and Allen Thompson, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=
Larsen, J., & Fondahl, G. (2015). Arctic Human Development Report: Regional Processes and Global Linkages. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.