Session 4.0.22: Indigenous Homelands: Rooting and Resilience in the Arctic
Time: 1 June 2024, 13:30-15:00 CET
Location: Fram Cinema - Room: Hall 2
Session Description:
The Arctic has been divided for centuries by nation-states borders, which have been challenged by Indigenous intellectuals, including Sámi artist Keviselie (also known as Elle-Hánsa and Hans Ragnar Mathisen). In Keviselie’s map of the Arctic, the sun shines and calls for a gathering to support circumpolar connections and mutual exchange of experiences. The concept of land has always been central in conflicts between nation-states, corporations and Indigenous communities in the Arctic. Indigenous scholars emphasize that land is not a mere property and fenced area but an epistemological, ontological, and a cosmological foundation (e.g., Tuck and Yang 2012; Coulthard 2014). In the Arctic context, the notion of homeland includes increasingly thawing permafrost, melting glaciers, and burning forests. Inviting Indigenous knowledge-holders, artists, and scholars, the panel aims towards a conversation on the current challenges in Indigenous homelands. What narratives and justifications have legitimized the ongoing epistemicide and ecocide in the Arctic? What are the tools and mechanisms employed by Indigenous communities to cope with these disruptions and crises? How can we talk about Indigenous perspectives on relationships with homelands and more-than-humans co-beings? In what ways Indigenous story-telling practices reflect and address the current urgencies? What futures do we see for our Arctic Homelands? The panel welcomes presenters to share studies, stories, memories, experiences and encounters that engage with these questions in and across the academic disciplines, as well as practitioners engaged in activist and art-based Indigenous initiatives.
For the full list of sessions, go to: Arctic Congress Sessions webpage