Tuesday, December 12, 2017

The Meaning of Ice awarded the inaugural Mohn Prize

The Mohn Prize was established in collaboration between Academia Borealis, The Academy of Sciences and Letters of Northern Norway (NNVA), the Tromsø Research Foundation (TFS) and UiT, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT). 

The objective of the prize is to recognize research related to the Arctic. Furthermore, it aims to put issues of particular relevance to the future development of the Arctic on the national and international agenda. 

From the press release:
The research group behind the Meaning of Ice consists of 13 researchers and indigenous experts from Alaska, Canada and Greenland. The project The Dynamics of Human-Sea Ice Relations: Comparing Changing Environments in Alaska, Nunavut and Greenland was implemented from 2006-2011. The project involved more than 40 participants, an overwhelming majority of which were indigenous experts with unrivaled experience-based knowledge of the Arctic.

About The Meaning of Ice
















Excellent research and groundbreaking knowledge
An excerpt from the award justification states that: “This project made groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of Arctic ice-dominated systems via a highly innovative combination of natural science, social science and indigenous knowledge.”
A leader in his/her/their field
An excerpt from the award justification concludes that: “This project exemplifies a major development in Arctic science that will stimulate others to make use of similar procedures to address a wide range of topics in the coming years.”
Relevance to the future development of the Arctic
An excerpt from the award justification states that: “Changes in the Arctic environment are now verified independently by both scientific methods and observations of the Arctic residents. Inherent to a sustainable Arctic is resilient local communities continuing their use of ice-dominated environment based on established knowledge systems, culture-based values, and indigenous languages.”
Based on these three criteria, the Scientific Committee strongly recommended that The Meaning of Ice should be honored as one of the laureates because the consortium is a unique example of “collaboration between academics and indigenous experts which has given us new knowledge of and understanding about the Arctic, and has developed an advanced understanding of the dynamics of the Arctic sea ice”.


The importance of an Arctic prize

The term ‘High North’ (or alternatively ‘Circumpolar North’) is often used to describe the area between the North Pole and the Arctic Circle. Through the Mohn Prize, NNVA, TFS and UiT wish to honour knowledge builders who have contributed groundbreaking new insights in the Arctic and the High North. The Scientific Committee believes the Mohn Prize has the potential to set the standard for outstanding research connected to the Arctic and the High North. Arctic research has been taking place in, and based out of Tromsø, for more than a century. For nearly 50 years, the research environments in Tromsø have developed world leading competence in Arctic natural and social sciences. The international interest in the Arctic is largely motivated by climate changes that are clearly expressed in the region, and by the rich natural resources found here.

Monday, August 28, 2017











The Will of the Unseen
by Hans Lynge

160 pages, 6 x 8.25"
Illustrated by the author
Translated by Susan Stanley
Afterword by Kirsten Thisted

October 2017

ISBN 978-0-9967480-2-5
$20.00 paperback


Two brothers learn their father was murdered by their step-father. Upon learning this, they both depart on journeys of self discovery leading them to the extremes of traditional Greenlandic culture and finally, transcendence.

Hans Lynge was born in Nuuk, Greenland in 1906 and died in 1988. He was an author, dramatist, painter, politician, printmaker, and sculptor.
Trained as a catechist, tuberculosis forced him to abandon his calling in 1931, beginning a new career as artist and author, while also becoming involved in the political forum. He participated in the delegation for negotiations with the Greenlandic Parliamentary Committee.

Hans Lynge’s writing claims its motifs from the ancient Inuit world and expresses a strong admiration for traditional indigenous life, but also the need for Greenland to modernize to the world around it. Emphasizing the importance of including the Greenlandic people in this process was his primary concern. As a visual artist, Lynge work also belongs to the country's finest. His work helped contribute to the formation of Greenlandic Folk Art.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017













Narwhal:
Revealing an Arctic Legend
By William Fitzhugh and Martin Nweeia

260 pages, 8.5 x 11.25"
Illustrated thoughout
Available November 2017

ISBN 978-0-9967480-1-8
$30.00 paperback


Few animals on the planet inspire the sense of wonder evoked by the narwhal. The ‘Arctic unicorn’ is everyone’s version of “awesome” and “cool.”  Explorers, aristocrats, artists and scientists celebrate this elusive whale and its extraordinary tusk. From Flemish unicorn tapestries, Inuit legends and traditional knowledge, and the research of devoted scientists, comes a tale of discovery reported here from  the top of the world, a place where climate change is rapidly transforming one of the harshest environments on earth.  How did the narwhal tusk become the horn of the fabled unicorn? What treasures do the Inuit hold about this majestic but elusive denizen? What have scientists discovered about the function of its tusk?

Explore with whale biologists as they capture live narwhals to answer questions of narwhal biology, migration, population and behavior. Ponder the evolutionary history of the narwhal through paleontology and genetic science. Contemplate the fate of northern regions, animals, and peoples in a rapidly warming Arctic. Experience the insights and observations of Inuit hunters who have lived with the narwhal for thousands of years. The following pages present their views along with the latest research in narwhal biology, art, and climate science illustrated by more than a dozen photographers and graphic artists. 

William W. Fitzhugh is a Smithsonian anthropologist who directs the Smithsonian’s Arctic Studies Center and serves as a visiting professor at Dartmouth College. His archaeological research investigates the history of Arctic peoples and cultures and the impacts of climate change and European contacts throughout northern Eurasia and North America. Recent research includes studies of Basque-Inuit contact and Mongolian Bronze Age art.
Dr. Martin Nweeia has devoted 18 years to studies of narwhal tusk function discovering its sensory ability.  The Harvard-Case Western Reserve-Smithsonian affiliated scientist worked with Inuit elders and hunters, and over 78 collaborating scientists in 8 countries in an effort that brought together Inuit traditional knowledge and scientific applications that led to his discoveries.

A co-publication with the Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Tuesday, March 28, 2017










Ivalu's Color
By Nauja Lynge

Afterword by Iben Bjørnsson
224 pages, 5.25 x 8.25"
Available June 2017

ISBN 978-0-9967480-0-1
$24.95



Nauja Lynge’s novel is a call for temperance in Greenland's rush for independence from Denmark.

Greenland, circa 2015. Three women are found murdered in the capital city Nuuk. Ongoing issues in the country involving the desire for independence from the Kingdom of Denmark are redirected, as race and gender recolor the scene, and the mystery unravels in clashing graphic detail. An intertwined story of corruption, greed, domination, and sovereignty reveals itself through the discoveries of three investigators— Russian, Chinese, and a Danish Greenlander. The politics at hand are reenacted in the very act of investigating the murders, revealing the Inuit of Greenland as the true and only victims of this crime. 


Nauja Lynge is the great granddaughter of Henrik Lund, author of Greenland’s national anthem, and granddaughter of Hans Lynge, who promoted increased Greenlandic independence in a time before the Home Rule government. She left Greenland for Denmark as a child, but returned to reclaim her native identity as a Danish Greenlander. Through this journey home, Nauja has seen the effects of cultural stereotypes affecting the economy, language, and very heart of those torn between two worlds. She continues to actively work towards helping Greenlanders gain their due rights. This is her first novel. 

The Meaning of Ice available in paperback, and translated into Inuktitut, Greenlandic and Inupiaq, July 2017


                                                                                                                                                                                                           









The Meaning of Ice:
People and Sea Ice in Three
Arctic Communities

Available in paperback, July 2017

ISBN 978-0-9961938-5-6
$30












Inuktitut edition
translated by Jukeepa Hainnu

Available in July 2017
ISBN 978-0-9961938-8-7
$30











Inupiaq edition
translated by Leona Simmonds Okakok

Available in July 2017
ISBN 978-0-9961938-7-0
$30











Greenlandic edition
translated by Kelly Berthelsen

Available in July 2017
ISBN 978-0-9961938-6-3
$30