CFP: The Arctic – American Studies in Scandinavia

American Studies in Scandinavia, the journal of the Nordic Association for American Studies (NAAS), is calling for papers on topics related to the Arctic from anyone working in fields such as Arctic Studies, American Studies, history, literary studies, cultural studies, ethnography, economics and law for a special issue of its journal on the Arctic. Proposals are due by December 1, 2021.

In this special issue, editors hope to explore the multiple ways in which the Arctic and the United States intersect discursively, culturally, ideologically, legally, politically, and economically. Some of the questions they are interested in answering include: Why is the United States interested in the Arctic? What role has the United States and the Scandinavian countries historically played in the region? How has the Arctic been portrayed historically, culturally, and literarily? What kinds of decolonial and indigenizing processes are happening in the Arctic in the 21st century as well as historically? And what role does climate change play on Arctic communities and economies?

Possible topics include but are not limited to the following:

• What and where is the Arctic?
• Arctic vulnerabilities
• Affect and the Arctic
• The Arctic in American literature
• The Arctic in popular culture
• The Arctic in visual art
• Indigenous histories of the Arctic
• Indigenous art
• Indigenous literature
• Colonialism and exploitation
• De-, post-, and anti-colonialism
• Indigenization and self-determination
• Early settlers and Arctic histories
• Contested spaces and landscapes
• The Arctic as center and periphery
• Cultural change in the arctic
• Arctic representations of the so-called West
• Arctic cultural and literary interventions and inventions
• The Arctic in the Anthropocene
• Climate change
• Climate activism 
• China in the Arctic
• Literature in/about Greenland
• Literature in/about Alaska
• Literature in/about Northern Canada
• The Arctic as American Dream
• Gender constructs in the Arctic
• The LGBTQIA+ Arctic 
• Arctic family dynamics
• Arctic masculinities

Those with questions about this CFP, or who wish to submit a 300-word proposal, should contact Clara Juncker ([email protected]) or Marianne Kongerslev ([email protected]).