The Seventh International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences ICASS VII 22-26 June 2011 Akureyri, Iceland Circumpolar Perspectives in Global Dialogue: Social Sciences beyond the International Polar Year ABSTRACTS 2 Hosts and sponsors who made ICASS VII possible Stefansson Arctic University of Akureyri Institute The University of Akureyri Town of Akureyri Research Centre The Icelandic Centre Arctic Portal for Research Akureyri Travel Nordic Council National Science Foundation of Ministers US Embassy EPSCoR in Reykjavik fff IASC – International Arctic US Arctic Research Science Committee Commission Walter and Duncan Oak Foundation Gordon Foundation Norwegian Embassy Embassy of Canada in Reykjavík in Reykjavík Special thanks to Karlakór Akureyrar – Geysir (men's choir) and Tónræktin – Tónlistarskóli (music school) ICASS VII ABSTRACTS 3 Adams, Barbara L. (University of Alaska Fairbanks); Kaden, Ute (University of Alaska Fairbanks): Teacher Mentoring to Improve Quality Formal Schooling in Rural, Remote and Indigenous Communities in Arctic Alaska Teaching in the remote locations of Alaska, USA, can be very challenging professionally and personally. Although many attributes of our villages are similar to other places—such as rural amenities, remote locations, and Indigenous populations— these Arctic villages become much more unique as they struggle to mitigate all of these factors together, particularly in education. The first couple of years in the classroom typically contain their own struggles faced by most teachers, despite the strengths of their teacher preparation program; with the majority of new teachers coming from outside of Alaska, these compounding struggles grow and become entrenched. Thus we instituted a statewide mentoring program. This paper focuses on the results of seven years of online survey data of first- and second-year teachers (early career teachers, ECTs) in Arctic Alaska receiving mentoring from the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project (ASMP). Comparisons of results will be presented based on groups of teachers who are located in rural-on-the-road-system schools versus rural-remote schools, and those with predominantly Alaska Native populations versus predominantly Caucasian populations. The online survey gathers teachers‘ perceptions of how the mentoring intervention has affected their teaching practice, personal lives, and their ability to teach and live in these communities, and transfer their professional development to their students‘ academic success. These perceptions are triangulated with mentor and principal perceptions as obtained on similar online surveys, and are centered among results of a quantitative study comparing student achievement between mentored ECTs and their veteran counterparts. June 23-24, session 09.01: Schooling in the Arctic Agranat, Tatiana (Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow): Natural Language as an Object of the Cinema I will demonstrate and comment some fragments of my future film ―The Votic People: the Past and Thoughts‖. I shoot my video materials during several expeditions to the Votes, who remain now in some villages on the south beach of Gulf of Finland of Baltic Sea. The aim of my expeditions was studying the Votic language. One of the main linguistic tasks now is the documentation of endangered languages and recently linguists very often successfully use video camera in their field work as a technical instrument to accomplish this task. However the purpose of a language is ―to serve‖ the life, so it is impossible to separate the language and the life from each other and sometimes the language documentation looks static and even a little artificial. My idea was to shoot not ethnographic cinema but for the first time to shoot a language, strange as it may seem. Therefore the conception of my film is to shoot the Votic language in its natural existence. June 25, session 08.19: Arctic View: Reality & Visuality Alexandrova, Elena A. (Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Institute of Northern Nations): Hovelsrud, Grete K. (Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo (CICERO)): Future vulnerability and adaptive strategies in Kola Saami communities The main problem of Kola Saami is preservation and development of their national culture, language and traditional activities, such as reindeer-herding, fishing and hunting. Studies shows that social and economic problems of indigenous people will become more complicated. Ecological situation becomes worse in Kola Peninsula due to further development of industry and exploration of mineral resources. Further increase of spring and summer temperatures lead to disturbance of reindeer nourishment, decrease of reindeer weight and livestock and their deceases. Warmer autumn and winter lead to delay of the slaughter. Extended northward migration of predators will threaten reindeer-herding. Number of reindeers will decrease because of their shooting by poachers, stealing and irrational slaughtering. Further development of tourism in Kola region threatens Saami reindeer-herding and fishing development. The following adaptive strategies are proposed for the near future: 1.Creation of ―Saami Knowledge Center‖. 2.Implementation of environmentally-friendly new technologies. 3.Agreements between industrial enterprises and indigenous communities for conservation of pastures. 4.Extension of the net of National parks. 5.Development of transport infrastructure and technical means. 6.Organization of «Reindeer police». 7.Implementation of modern methods for increasing number of reindeers. 8.Creation of the federal program ―Conservation of reindeer herding and traditional crafts in the Murmansk region‖ for 2011- 2016. June 22-23, session 03.57: Community Adaptation and Vulnerability in the Arctic Regions (CAVIAR): Lessons and directions for future research ICASS VII ABSTRACTS 4 Allice, Ilana (Labrador Institute of Memorial University); Bell, Trevor (Memorial University of Newfoundland); Wolf, Johanna (Labrador Institute); Borlase, Harry (Memorial University of Newfoundland): The Freedom to Get up and Go: Exploring the values that guide adaptation decisions amongst Inuit and Inuit-Métis communities in Labrador, Canada Just as in other Arctic regions, Inuit communities on the Labrador Coast are heavily affected by the many and varied effects of climate change. For the Inuit, as with many other indigenous groups, people maintain deep and significant connections with the land, water, ice and animals for a wide range of cultural, recreational and practical reasons. Numerous studies have identified key vulnerabilities within Arctic Inuit communities to increasing variability and warming due to climate change. Little attention has been paid, however, to the adaptation decisions Inuit are already making, and specifically to the values that drive these decisions. This research looks at adaptation decisions in one Inuit community in Nunatsiavut, and one Inuit-Métis community on the south coast of Labrador. Preliminary results from the two months of interview-based research indicate that the most significant effects of increased seasonal variability concern the ability of individuals to leave the communities in winter to travel on the land. Within both communities, the narrative of ‗freedom‘ was very often used in relation to spending time on the land, on the water or sea, and at the cabin. We explore the multiple meanings of this freedom narrative and the values embedded within it. Given the similarities and differences between these communities, the common experience and expression of this freedom raises important questions about the role of freedom in local adaptation decisions. June 23, session 01.33: Narratives of vulnerability, resilience and adaptation among circumpolar communities in the era of climate change Ampleman, Luc (Nordic Information Centre - Jagiellonian University, Poland): Arctic mobility and transportation Planning: Are the social sciences co-piloting or in the back seat? Transportation is one of the most technical, material and concrete aspects of mobility. Over the past 15 years, states concerned by the development of the Arctic have increased the number of public policies, initiatives and strategic planning efforts to improve the mobility of circumpolar stakeholders in the Arctic. So far a large part of the geopolitical analysis regarding transport in the Arctic has focused on the dramatic dimension and international conflicts between national entities (mainly about Arctic sovereignty and military security, access to resources, environmental impact) and little on the real transportation needs and issues of the several Arctic subregions. However, there have been significant initiatives by the local Far North stakeholders to advance the political agenda on transportation issues at the regional scale (small boat safety, improvement of snowmobile trails, medical evacuation, etc.) The aim of this paper is firstly to take stock on key social issues related to transportation in the Arctic; secondly, to report how these issues differ from other regions; and thirdly, to identify what efforts can be undertaken in the social science fields to better understand social issues related not only to mobility, but more specifically to transport development in the Arctic in order to support policy making and transportation planning. June 22, session 04.01: Mobility and Immobility in the Circumpolar North Ampleman, Luc (Nordic Information Centre - Jagiellonian University, Poland): Transport planning