Dartmouth Events

The Arctic sea ice has received tremendous scientific attention, and media attention, as the Arctic region warms and sea ice declines.  The loss of Arctic ice and the implications for the Arctic Ocean, environment, global climate, shipping, and even polar bears are what we are used to hearing about most.  But what does not get as much attention is the fact that there are many perspectives and understandings of Arctic ice and snow.  Sea ice has many meanings, in particular for Inuit, who with their ancestors, have lived on and with the ice for thousands of years.

Dr. Shari Fox Gearheard, a geographer with the University of Colorado but based on Baffin Island, will discuss Inuit culture, language, and ways of knowing sea ice based on her collaborative work with hunters and Elders.  She will draw extensively on stories, illustrations, artwork, maps, and photos from the recently published book, The Meaning of Ice: People and Sea Ice in Three Arctic Communities, which won the 2014 Polar Libraries Colloquy’s Mills Prize for best non-fiction polar book. At a time of tremendous change in the Arctic, Inuit provide important understanding not only of the Arctic environment, but of the human place within it.  

Free and open to the public.