Unit 1: Imaginations and Definitions of the North Flashcards
For whom is the North a frontier and for whom is it a homeland? What does competing conceptions of the North tell us?
Seen as frontier by non-locals; a mythologized vision to be exploited.
It is a homeland for people from there, particularly Indigenous peoples.
Altogether, the North is as much an idea as it is a place.
What are the problems with the frontier construction?
Frontier is a capitalist, exploitative approach to relations in core-periphery axis.
Representations like this present it as a lawless wilderness, ripe for the taking which wipes away the real human presence in the North. Thinking of it as a frontier means thinking of a land’s value solely for what we can exploit from it.
What is development?
It is a normative concept regarding our Western visions of our relationship with the natural world.
When we talk about what it means to be developed, we are referring to the degree by which an area has had its natural qualities and populations incorporated into the capitalist world system.
What are the two biomes that comprise the North?
Tundra (Arctic)
Boreal (Subarctic)
What are common characteristics share by northern regions?
Physical: Cold, limited biophysical diversity, permafrost, vast geographic area, fragile environment
Human: sparse population, high cost of living, Aboriginal populations, resource economy, economic hinterland, remote and isolated
What are three central challenges that the North faces for resource development?
Respecting environmental concerns
Respecting Aboriginal rights and title
Ensuring sustainability to avoid resource trap
What is the understanding of the north by McNiven and Puderer and whose definition matches it?
They proposed four zones: South, South Transition, North Transition, and North.
Hamelin model of Nordicity is similar: Non-North, Near North, Far North, Extreme North.
Benefits and challenges of composite definitions of North?
Benefits: accounts for multiple factors and variables. For example, Hamelin incorporates 10 features to score Nordicity.
Challenge: assumptions carried by Southern geographers (e.g. development = less northern; north is hinterland of south; southern perspective in labelling
What are two common ways in which the northern ecosystem is characterized?
- Stable: “the ability of a system to return to an equilibrium state after a disturbance”
- Resilient: “a measure of the persistence of systems and of their ability to absorb change and disturbances and still maintain the same relationships between populations and other variables.”
Mulvihill, Baker, and Morrison discuss the problems associated with making broad ecological generalization about the north? Provide 2 examples.
- Scientists considered it a simplified system and thus the perfect lab environment to test theories.
- The north is not intrinsically more hostile than other ecosystems.
- We don’t know much about it since long-term environmental history is highly speculative. This makes generalizing even more irresponsible.
Discuss the ways in which southerners and northerners have been used to validate sociopolitical visions.
“North” has been used to symbolize positive traits like strength, endurance, health, purity; whereas “south” the opposite.
Has been used by British imperialists and eugenicists.
Used by Canada First movement to explain their superiority and vision that a hardy northern people were destined for glory.
North in our national symbols and nationalist visions.
Discuss the role of the Canadian Shield in imaginations and interactions with the Canadian North
The shield shaped settlement patterns historically and economic activities for centuries. Most recently, it is a source of forest and mineral wealth.
When we think of north, we think of rocks, specifically the rocks of the Canadian Shield. This notion so deeply rooted that we are shocked to see images that don’t fit that.
