Undecided dreams: France in the Antarctic, 1840–2021
Abstract This paper traces France’s role in the Antarctic from 1840, when explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville discovered the slice of the white continent he named Terre Adélie, to the present day. Since World War II, Terre Adélie has been the site of a host of performances of sovereignty: the French hav...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247421000140 2024-03-03T08:38:05+00:00 Undecided dreams: France in the Antarctic, 1840–2021 Martin-Nielsen, Janet 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000140 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247421000140 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Polar Record volume 57 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2021 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000140 2024-02-08T08:33:32Z Abstract This paper traces France’s role in the Antarctic from 1840, when explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville discovered the slice of the white continent he named Terre Adélie, to the present day. Since World War II, Terre Adélie has been the site of a host of performances of sovereignty: the French have built bases, drawn maps, conducted scientific investigations and erected plaques. But France’s commitment to Terre Adélie has been tested and has fallen into crisis several times. The history of France in Antarctica is a tale of ambition, ambivalence, trade-offs and political strategy. This paper aims to elucidate this story, focusing on the concept of sovereignty and the nexus of scientific and political interests. I argue that France’s relationship with the Antarctic has been characterised by continual tension, by peaks and troughs and by brinkmanship on the part of actors with their own stakes. While there is broad agreement that Terre Adélie serves a fundamental national interest, I show that France’s ambitions on the white continent are far from decided. With its focus on France, which has largely been left out of the growing body of literature on the Antarctic, this paper contributes to building a robust historical understanding of Antarctic claims. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record Cambridge University Press Antarctic The Antarctic Terre Adélie ENVELOPE(139.000,139.000,-67.000,-67.000) Terre-Adélie ENVELOPE(138.991,138.991,-59.999,-59.999) Jules ENVELOPE(140.917,140.917,-66.742,-66.742) Dumont d’Urville ENVELOPE(140.000,140.000,-66.667,-66.667) Polar Record 57 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development Martin-Nielsen, Janet Undecided dreams: France in the Antarctic, 1840–2021 |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
Abstract This paper traces France’s role in the Antarctic from 1840, when explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville discovered the slice of the white continent he named Terre Adélie, to the present day. Since World War II, Terre Adélie has been the site of a host of performances of sovereignty: the French have built bases, drawn maps, conducted scientific investigations and erected plaques. But France’s commitment to Terre Adélie has been tested and has fallen into crisis several times. The history of France in Antarctica is a tale of ambition, ambivalence, trade-offs and political strategy. This paper aims to elucidate this story, focusing on the concept of sovereignty and the nexus of scientific and political interests. I argue that France’s relationship with the Antarctic has been characterised by continual tension, by peaks and troughs and by brinkmanship on the part of actors with their own stakes. While there is broad agreement that Terre Adélie serves a fundamental national interest, I show that France’s ambitions on the white continent are far from decided. With its focus on France, which has largely been left out of the growing body of literature on the Antarctic, this paper contributes to building a robust historical understanding of Antarctic claims. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Martin-Nielsen, Janet |
author_facet |
Martin-Nielsen, Janet |
author_sort |
Martin-Nielsen, Janet |
title |
Undecided dreams: France in the Antarctic, 1840–2021 |
title_short |
Undecided dreams: France in the Antarctic, 1840–2021 |
title_full |
Undecided dreams: France in the Antarctic, 1840–2021 |
title_fullStr |
Undecided dreams: France in the Antarctic, 1840–2021 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Undecided dreams: France in the Antarctic, 1840–2021 |
title_sort |
undecided dreams: france in the antarctic, 1840–2021 |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000140 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247421000140 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(139.000,139.000,-67.000,-67.000) ENVELOPE(138.991,138.991,-59.999,-59.999) ENVELOPE(140.917,140.917,-66.742,-66.742) ENVELOPE(140.000,140.000,-66.667,-66.667) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Terre Adélie Terre-Adélie Jules Dumont d’Urville |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Terre Adélie Terre-Adélie Jules Dumont d’Urville |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 57 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247421000140 |
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Polar Record |
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57 |
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1792504341380202496 |