The Prime Minister of Antarctica: entrenching territory through journalistic travelogues

• Published in: Studies in Travel Writing
• Main Author: Alnæs, Jørgen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nottingham Trent University 2018
• Subjects: Norway; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/71973; http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-75079; https://doi.org/10.1080/13645145.2017.1420408

This article discusses how sovereignty can be entrenched through the interplay between texts and actions. The case is the coverage of the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s travels to Antarctica by one Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten. Through a close reading, the article shows how two newspaper articles by the journalist Ole Mathismoen strengthen the connections between Norway and one of its territorial claims in Antarctica while simultaneously obscuring other nations’ presence. Thus, the travelogues provide a setting for sovereignty performances by the Prime Minister, which naturalises and depoliticises his actions. The article applies the concept of imaginative geographies to illuminate relations between journalism and geopolitics. By looking at the example of Norway’s presence in Antarctica, it explores how the performance of imaginative geographies functions as the entrenchment of territorial claims.