In his dissertation, Joonas Vola investigates Arctic change and the way in which it is described in science, art, and popular communication. The author’s results provide grounds for a novel, a more radical, and a more critical way to address the Arctic region and the Arcticness.

Rather than being the target of research of a single
discipline, the Arctic region has captured the attention of numerous disciplines,
scientists, and artists. Owing to its geographical form and many aspects, it could
be described as a quilt made of patches of different materials.

When studying and interpreting the Arctic as a region, natural phenomenon,
or political issue, it is important to critically assess the concepts used. However,
this critical stance hardly ever relates to the starting point of the research: “the
Arctic” as a term.

According to Vola, we may even question
whether the Arctic even exists without the actors and activities that construct it.
We might be dealing with yet another case of “the emperor’s new clothes”, that is, a
non-existent issue is made real through imagination, language, and social
interaction. It raises the question, what lies underneath the veil of the
Arctic?

Built on
dichotomies

The Arctic is associated with change
that manifests in many ways for instance in exhibitions organised at Arktikum
Science Centre in Rovaniemi, Finland. Concurrently, descriptions of the change build
a picture of the permanence of the Arctic. In addition to human activity, change and
permanence originate from the agency of artefacts, animals, and natural phenomena.

The Arctic also entails the idea of periphery and centre.

– When for instance discussing people living in the Arctic, we
should bear in mind that the region is not a single entity. Furthermore, “Arctic” as
a term does not originate from the areas that are defined as being part of the
Arctic. “Arctic” thereby refers to something that is distant or external, regardless
of the latitude in which the word is uttered, Vola notes.

While
the Arctic and Arcticness are studied and presented, the observer is always defined
as “us” and the observed as “them”, which generates otherness.

The Arctic truth

It is not
possible to answer the question, what is truly and genuinly Arctic? The Arctic is
continuously defined through belonging and unbelonging, or being part of something
and being apart. The defining is not necessarily conscious action, rather it is part
of a long history that entails various glossaries, imageries, acts, and bodies of
knowledge.

– Sometimes this historical load is treated with
unbearable lightness, forgetting the political forces and interests invested in it,
Vola adds.

According to Vola, attention should be paid to how
“the Arctic” and “arctic” are written. The capital “A” of the noun should be crossed
out and the marking left visible. The marking refers to both the invalidity and the
necessity of the word. When using the adjective “arctic”, the initial “a” should be
italicised. It denotes the elusiveness and alienating quality of the word.

– This has to do with our own collective and political desires,
be it wealth, crime or love. We must notice our self-image concealed in the
Arctic and anything that is arctic, in
all its beauty and dreadfulness, Vola concludes.

Information on the public
examination

The doctoral dissertation
”Homunculus: Bearing Incorporeal Arcticulations” by Joonas
Vola, M.Soc.Sc., will be publically examined in the Faculty of Social Sciences at
the University of Lapland on Friday 22 April 2022 at 12 noon in lecture hall 2
(Yliopistonkatu 8, LS2). The opponent is Associate Professor Michael Bravo from
Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge. The custos is
University Lecturer Mika Luoma-aho from the University of Lapland.

Coffee will be served in Restaurant Felli after the session.

The public examination can be followed online at https://blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi/ulapland2/

Information on the doctoral
candidate

Joonas Vola (born 1986 in Pielavesi)
received his high school diploma from Iisalmen lyseo in 2005. He earned his master’s
degree in political science in 2012.

Vola has completed his
doctoral dissertation in the doctoral programme Culture Based Service Design / The
Arctic in a Changing World between 2018 and 2021. The research has been funded by
the Lapland Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Oskar Öflunds
Stiftelse sr, and the Foundation for Economic Education. To finalise the work, Vola
was awarded the Esko Riepula grant by the University of Lapland.

Vola has worked in several international research projects at the Arctic
Centre of the University of Lapland, Umeå University, and the University of Turku.
He is also a member of the research groups Northern Political Economy and
Intra-Living in the Anthropocene.

Further
information

Joonas Vola
+358 40 484
4066
joonas.vola(at)ulapland.fi

Information on the publication

Joonas Vola: Homunculus: Bearing Incorporeal Arcticulations. Acta
electronica Universitatis Lapponiensis 334. ISBN 978-952-337-309-9, ISSN 1796-6310.
University of Lapland, Rovaniemi 2022.

Permanent address of the
publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-309-9