Join us for a lunchtime seminar on the remaking of Arctic seascapes as a frontier space for an expansive and growing ocean economy. The event will explore how the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas are paradoxically made increasingly valuable as they are made increasingly vulnerable to multiple pressures: polar-amplified warming, sea ice retreat, pollution, deep sea mining and drilling, surveying and surveillance, harvesting and over-exploitation at an unprecedented rate and scale. 

Focusing primarily on the Norwegian context, the event will feature Tone Huse (Associate Professor, University of Tromsø) presenting work from her recent book Nature-made Economy (MIT Press 2023, with Kristin Asdal) on the commodification of Arctic cod as a prism for understanding the economization of the ocean, followed by Berit Kristoffersen (Associate Professor, University of Tromsø) and Alexander Arroyo (Affiliated Faculty CEGU/Senior Research Associate & Associate Director, Urban Theory Lab, University of Chicago) presenting research on the role of the ice edge in shaping new oil, gas, and (most recently) seabed mineral frontiers. Michael Watts (Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley), collaborator on this research, will act as moderator and provide a short commentary after the presentations.