Iceberg Alley, Climate Change, and Canada's Grey Resources
North at Trent Lecture Series
Event Details
-
Thursday, March 30, 2017
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Building: Traill College
Room: Bagnani Hall
Cost: Free
The North at Trent 2017 Lecture Series continues with Dr. Rafico Ruiz, Roberta Bondar Fellow in Northern & Polar Studies, Trent University:
Iceberg Alley, Climate Change, and Canada's Grey Resources
Over the past two decades, icebergs in Iceberg Alley, an area that extends from the glaciers of the western coast of Greenland to Baffin Island and south past the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, have progressively emerged as a sought after commodity used in the production of vodka, beer, and luxury-branded waters. By drawing on historical research and fieldwork across communities in Iceberg Alley, this talk will examine how icebergs are emerging as “grey resources”: equally implicated in the ambiguous ethical shadow of anthropogenic climate change through glacial melt, as well as important secondary resources for the safe operation of oil and gas installations on the North Atlantic. Overall, I will consider how the commodification of natural phenomena such as icebergs highlights the grey ethical and environmental modalities underpinning the consolidation of a northern natural resource.
Rafico Ruiz is the Roberta Bondar Postdoctoral Fellow in Northern and Polar Studies at Trent University, as well as an FQRSC Postdoctoral Fellow. He studies the relationships between mediation and social space, particularly in the Arctic and Subarctic; the cultural geographies of natural resource engagements; and the philosophical and political stakes of infrastructural and ecological systems. His work appears in the International Journal of Communication, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, and Communication +1, amongst others.
This event is open to the public and free of charge. There will be a reception to follow.
The third and final lecture is scheduled for April 6th.
The North at Trent 2017 Lecture Series is sponsored by the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, the Roberta Bondar Fellowship in Northern & Polar Studies and Jon & Shelagh Grant.