Arctic Indigenous Peoples as Representations and Representatives of Climate Change
Source
doi: 10.1177/0306312707083665 Social Studies of Science June 2008 vol. 38 no. 3 351-376
Abstract
Recent scientific findings, as presented in the Arctic Climate Impact
Assessment (ACIA), indicate that climate change in the Arctic is happening now,
at a faster rate than elsewhere in the world, and with major implications for
peoples of the Arctic (especially indigenous peoples) and the rest of the planet.
This paper examines scientific and political representations of Arctic indigenous
peoples that have been central to the production and articulation of these claims.
ACIA employs novel forms and strategies of representation that reflect changing
conceptual models and practices of global change science and depict indigenous
peoples as expert, exotic, and at-risk. These portrayals emerge alongside the
growing political activism of Arctic indigenous peoples who present themselves as
representatives or embodiments of climate change itself as they advocate for climate
change mitigation policies. These mutually constitutive forms of representation
suggest that scientific ways of seeing the global environment shape and are shaped
by the public image and voice of global citizens. Likewise, the authority,
credibility, and visibility of Arctic indigenous activists derive, in part, from
their status as at-risk experts, a status buttressed by new scientific frameworks
and methods that recognize and rely on the local experiences and knowledges of
indigenous peoples. Analyses of these relationships linking scientific and political
representations of Arctic climate change build upon science and technology studies
(STS) scholarship on visualization, challenge conventional notions of globalization,
and raise questions about power and accountability in global climate change
research.
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