Meridian Newsletter: Fall/Winter 2011-Spring/Summer 2012 - New Books and Horizon

New Books

Arctic Naturalist: The Life of J. Dewey Soper

by Anthony Dalton. Dundurn Press. ISBN: 978-1-55488-746-0.

Dewey Soper was the last of the great pioneer naturalists in Canada, and was a skilled and meticulous explorer. He first travelled to the Arctic in 1923. During the next seven years he had three research postings on Baffin Island, and 1929 discovered the breeding grounds of the blue goose in the southwest corner of Baffin Island. Later in life he worked in the western Arctic.

He was a major contributor to the National Museum of Canada, as well as to the University of Alberta and other museums across the country.

Circumpolar Health Atlas

by T. Kue Young (senior editor). University of Toronto Press. ISBN: 9781442644564.

The Circumpolar Health Atlas offers a broad, multidisciplinary understanding of the health of diverse populations who inhabit the polar regions of the northern hemisphere. The atlas includes overviews of the physical environment that influences human health; cultures and languages of northern peoples; different diseases and health conditions; and health systems, policies, resources, and services. It concludes with information on how education and research can be used to improve health in these regions.

Climate, Culture, Change: Inuit and Western Dialogues with a Warming North

by Timothy B. Leduc. University of Ottawa Press. ISBN: 978-0-7766-0750-4.

Timothy Leduc steps outside scientific and political debates on climate change to engage with various Inuit understandings of northern climate change. He learns that today's climate changes are not only affecting our environments, but also our cultures. By focusing on the changes currently occurring in the north, he highlights the challenges being posed to Western climate research, Canadian politics and traditional Inuit knowledge.

Climate, Culture, Change sheds light on the cultural challenges posed by northern warming and proposes an intercultural response that is demonstrated by the blending of Inuit and Western perspectives.

Herschel Island Qikiqtaryuk: A Natural and Cultural History of Yukon's Arctic Island

edited by Christopher R. Burn. University of Calgary Press (distributor). ISBN: 978-0-9880009-0-2.

For centuries Inuvialuit and their ancestors lived and hunted on Qikiqtaryuk, a small island in the Beaufort Sea just off the Yukon coast. In the early 19th century Sir John Franklin named it after a distinguished English scientific family, the Herschels. Later it became a centre of American steamship whaling. During the fur trade of the early 20th century, Inuvialuit trappers made considerable profits from the island's abundant fox population. In the 1970s it was used as a base for offshore oil exploration, and it is now a wilderness park. In this book a wide array of experts bring to life the many-faceted story of Herschel Island. 

Horizon

First International Conference on Urbanisation in the Arctic
Nuuk, Greenland
28-30 August 2012
www.nordregio.se

Circumpolar Conference on Education for Indigenous People
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
26 - 30 November 2012
http://www.uarctic.org

8th ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting
Vancouver, BC
11 -14 December 2012
http://www.arcticnetmeetings.ca

For more information on events please see the Polar Events Calendar

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