Waters that matter: How human-water relations are changing in high-arctic Svalbard
There is scientific consensus that the archipelago of Svalbard is warming up faster than other parts of the planet. People who live in or regularly visit this part of the European high Arctic observe and experience these changes in a subjective and relational manner. This article illustrates how per...
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:7463504 2023-05-15T15:02:08+02:00 Waters that matter: How human-water relations are changing in high-arctic Svalbard Sokolíčková, Zdenka Ramirez Hincapié, Esteban Zhang, Jasmine Lennert, Ann E. Löf, Annette van der Wal, René 2022-12-20 https://zenodo.org/record/7463504 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7463504 eng eng doi:10.5281/zenodo.7463503 https://zenodo.org/record/7463504 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7463504 oai:zenodo.org:7463504 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode Anthropological Notebooks 28(3) 74-109 Svalbard environment change long-term monitoring experiential knowledge info:eu-repo/semantics/article publication-article 2022 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.746350410.5281/zenodo.7463503 2023-03-11T03:44:13Z There is scientific consensus that the archipelago of Svalbard is warming up faster than other parts of the planet. People who live in or regularly visit this part of the European high Arctic observe and experience these changes in a subjective and relational manner. This article illustrates how perceptions of environmental change are enmeshed with our ways of interacting with water(s) and dwelling in the landscape. What kind of water-related change do people talk about? How do changes in the different water worlds matter? How does water help us portray what environmental change means? We show that “what” and “how” we know about water(s) amidst change are in many ways inseparable. Our contribution offers a benchmark for discussing water-related environmental change in Svalbard from a perspective that goes beyond “what long-term monitoring tells us” towards “what bodies experience.” Through accounts shared mostly by scientists, technicians, and tour guides, we explore notions of water in its various forms, such as sea ice, glaciers, rivers, the wetness of the tundra, snow, and weather phenomena including rain. We focus on processes such as disappearing, melting, freezing, swelling, saturating, drying up, eroding, appearing, and threatening, and discuss what the observed and experienced changes mean for human-environment relations. Our interlocutors emphasize many facets of their relationship with the landscape, including identity, expectations, emotions, knowledge, and practices. Our study demonstrates how the experiential perspective is largely ordered and filtered through activities and practices, among which mobility and reading, or predicting, the landscape stand out as particularly important. Through a relational approach to water(s) permeation, we apply Tim Ingold’s concept of taskscapes and his perspectives on dwelling to show how time scales and connection to place matter. We juxtapose scientific knowledge produced through long-term monitoring with experiential knowledge, and demonstrate their ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Sea ice Svalbard Tundra Zenodo Arctic Svalbard |
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English |
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Svalbard environment change long-term monitoring experiential knowledge |
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Svalbard environment change long-term monitoring experiential knowledge Sokolíčková, Zdenka Ramirez Hincapié, Esteban Zhang, Jasmine Lennert, Ann E. Löf, Annette van der Wal, René Waters that matter: How human-water relations are changing in high-arctic Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Svalbard environment change long-term monitoring experiential knowledge |
description |
There is scientific consensus that the archipelago of Svalbard is warming up faster than other parts of the planet. People who live in or regularly visit this part of the European high Arctic observe and experience these changes in a subjective and relational manner. This article illustrates how perceptions of environmental change are enmeshed with our ways of interacting with water(s) and dwelling in the landscape. What kind of water-related change do people talk about? How do changes in the different water worlds matter? How does water help us portray what environmental change means? We show that “what” and “how” we know about water(s) amidst change are in many ways inseparable. Our contribution offers a benchmark for discussing water-related environmental change in Svalbard from a perspective that goes beyond “what long-term monitoring tells us” towards “what bodies experience.” Through accounts shared mostly by scientists, technicians, and tour guides, we explore notions of water in its various forms, such as sea ice, glaciers, rivers, the wetness of the tundra, snow, and weather phenomena including rain. We focus on processes such as disappearing, melting, freezing, swelling, saturating, drying up, eroding, appearing, and threatening, and discuss what the observed and experienced changes mean for human-environment relations. Our interlocutors emphasize many facets of their relationship with the landscape, including identity, expectations, emotions, knowledge, and practices. Our study demonstrates how the experiential perspective is largely ordered and filtered through activities and practices, among which mobility and reading, or predicting, the landscape stand out as particularly important. Through a relational approach to water(s) permeation, we apply Tim Ingold’s concept of taskscapes and his perspectives on dwelling to show how time scales and connection to place matter. We juxtapose scientific knowledge produced through long-term monitoring with experiential knowledge, and demonstrate their ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sokolíčková, Zdenka Ramirez Hincapié, Esteban Zhang, Jasmine Lennert, Ann E. Löf, Annette van der Wal, René |
author_facet |
Sokolíčková, Zdenka Ramirez Hincapié, Esteban Zhang, Jasmine Lennert, Ann E. Löf, Annette van der Wal, René |
author_sort |
Sokolíčková, Zdenka |
title |
Waters that matter: How human-water relations are changing in high-arctic Svalbard |
title_short |
Waters that matter: How human-water relations are changing in high-arctic Svalbard |
title_full |
Waters that matter: How human-water relations are changing in high-arctic Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Waters that matter: How human-water relations are changing in high-arctic Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Waters that matter: How human-water relations are changing in high-arctic Svalbard |
title_sort |
waters that matter: how human-water relations are changing in high-arctic svalbard |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://zenodo.org/record/7463504 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7463504 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice Svalbard Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice Svalbard Tundra |
op_source |
Anthropological Notebooks 28(3) 74-109 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5281/zenodo.7463503 https://zenodo.org/record/7463504 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7463504 oai:zenodo.org:7463504 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.746350410.5281/zenodo.7463503 |
_version_ |
1766334117414174720 |