Connecting Atlantic and Pacific: Theorizing the Arctic

• Published in: Atlantic Studies
• Main Author: Waller, Nicole (Prof. Dr.)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: ddc:810; Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Northwest Passage; Pacific; Pivot; inuit; Northwest passage
• Online Access: https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/54468; https://doi.org/10.1080/14788810.2017.1387467

This essay sets out to theorize the "new" Arctic Ocean as a pivot from which our standard map of the world is currently being reconceptualized. Drawing on theories from the fields of Atlantic and Pacific studies, I argue that the changing Arctic, characterized by melting ice and increased accessibility, must be understood both as a space of transit that connects Atlantic and Pacific worlds in unprecedented ways, and as an oceanic world and contact zone in its own right. I examine both functions of the Arctic via a reading of the dispute over the Northwest Passage (which emphasizes the Arctic as a space of transit) and the contemporary assessment of new models of sovereignty in the Arctic region (which concentrates on the circumpolar Arctic as an oceanic world). However, both of these debates frequently exclude indigenous positions on the Arctic. By reading Canadian Inuit theories on the Arctic alongside the more prominent debates, I argue for a decolonizing reading of the Arctic inspired by Inuit articulations of the "Inuit Sea." In such a reading, Inuit conceptions provide crucial interventions into theorizing the Arctic. They also, in turn, contribute to discussions on indigeneity, sovereignty, and archipelagic theory in Atlantic and Pacific studies.