Arctic Societies: Past, Present and Future
Research Programme
The research programme aims to generate a holistic understanding of the societies of the circumpolar north in times of dramatic change. The research conducted in the programme consists primarily of the disciplines of anthropology, law, and governance complemented by fields such as geography and history.
We foster a holistic and solution-oriented understanding of Arctic communities and the challenges they are facing today, rooted in an understanding of their cultures and history, embedded in the wider context of human-nature interactions in the circumpolar Arctic and contextualized with current and emerging conditions of life in the Arctic, including natural, socio-cultural, and legal aspects.
The aim is to provide the widest possible range of information on Arctic communities and societies for both the scientific community and decision-makers.
Arctic societies and the people in the Arctic are not the objects of research but the beneficiaries and often participants of research. Hence, in many cases, knowledge generation results from close cooperation with local and Indigenous communities.
Research Teams
Our research seeks to understand the livelihoods of Arctic people, their identities, activities, interrelationships, cosmologies and other cultural practices. This includes indigenous peoples, but also other inhabitants of the region. In our fieldwork, Arctic people are not ‘informants’ but ‘research partners’
The team conducts research on law and governance with relevance to the Arctic and beyond, with a particular focus on international organizations and institutions, questions of safety and security, ocean governance, the protection of the natural environment, climate change, sustainability and human rights.
The Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law conducts research broadly on international environmental law and human rights law as they apply to the Arctic. More specifically, the research focuses on Arctic environmental governance with special reference to climate change, climate justice, human rights and climate litigation, biodiversity and the law of the sea as it applies to Arctic marine areas.