Descripción del proyecto
Representación de las poblaciones indígenas del Ártico
Las expediciones históricas al Ártico suelen asociarse con el heroísmo y «la batalla del Hombre contra la Naturaleza» en un entorno hostil y helado. Sin embargo, para los habitantes indígenas (cuya ayuda fue fundamental para estas expediciones), esta región era, y es, su hogar. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos ARCVIS presentará el Ártico occidental habitado (Alaska, Canadá, Groenlandia) a partir de bocetos, pinturas, fotografías y grabados de las comunidades locales entre los años 1800 y 1900. El material visual se expondrá mediante una base de datos geoespaciales en línea y de acceso abierto donde se vincularán las imágenes con sus lugares de origen, haciendo que el contenido archivado esté contextualizado y sea accesible y pertinente para las comunidades del Ártico, así como para los investigadores, los profesores y el público general. El objetivo es destacar aspectos importantes de la rica historia y el patrimonio cultural de la región.
Objetivo
The proposed research project “Arctic Visible: Picturing Indigenous Communities in the Nineteenth-Century Western Arctic” (ARCVIS) investigates the visual representation of indigenous people and their local Arctic environment in the nineteenth century, a period that saw intense exploration in the region. Hundreds of sketches, paintings, and prints of indigenous people and places in the Arctic were created by travellers from lower latitudes. Yet, the dominant and enduring imaginary of the Arctic is of a space devoid of people. The project will counteract the critical focus on ice and hostile environments in the sciences and humanities and present the peopled western Arctic (Greenland, Canada, Alaska) that was encountered by ‘explorers.’ Through the analysis of picture and text in archives and published nineteenth-century texts, it will strive to give ‘voice,’ to the indigenous people who were key to the success or failure of expeditions from the south. The research is highly topical, at a time when rapidly warming Arctic regions are threatened by intense exploitation for their resources. A key element of the innovative project is the collation and interpretation of the material through an open access online geospatial platform, which combines the visuality of exploration and travel with digital methods that seek to bring out the richly contextual information often bypassed in visual documentary records. The production of the online portal will make the material accessible, contextualised, and relevant for communities in the Arctic, educators, and interested members of the public, as well as academic researchers across disciplines. In contrast to enduring images of ice and vast empty landscapes, the project will show the Arctic as a peopled environment with a rich history and heritage. The indigenous contribution to Arctic exploration in the nineteenth century, often thought to be ‘invisible,’ will be made visible by the research.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF-EF-CAR - CAR – Career Restart panelCoordinador
901 87 Umea
Suecia