THE INTERNATIONAL CIRCUMPOLAR OBSERVATORY (ICO) is a joint endeavour of the Universidad del Salvador (Faculty of Social Sciences, International Program for the Study of Circumpolarity, Antarctica and Local Communities in Extreme Environments, PIECA, Argentina), the Université du Québec à Montréal (Research Chair on Images of the North, Winter and the Arctic, and International Laboratory for the Multidisciplinary Study of Representations of the North, Québec, Canada), the University of Iceland (Faculty of Social Sciences, Iceland), the Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) and the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional — Rio Grande (Argentina). It is an Observatory with scientific and socio-cultural goals in order to research and promote the circumpolar issue in both Hemispheres, looking for the identification and proposal of solutions to the emerging problems thereof. The Observatory is a multilateral “umbrella” founded for a creative search of international convergences and new perspectives related to the Arctic, Antarctic and circumpolar problems, and its interrelations.
About the location
Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
About the direction
Enrique del Acebo Ibáñez (Director, International Program for the Study of Circumpolarity, Antarctica and Local Communities in Extreme Environments, PIECA, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad del Salvador, Argentina); Daniel Chartier (Research Chair on Images of the North, Winter and the Arctic and International Laboratory for the Multidisciplinary Study of Representations of the North, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada), Helgi Gunnlaugsson (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Iceland), Agustín García Serventi (National University of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), and Sergio Osiroff (Universidad Tecnológica Nacional — Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina)
About the auspicies
- The International Association of Circumpolar Socio-Cultural Issues (IACSI)
- The Foundation for High Studies on Antarctica & Extreme Environments (FAE, Argentina)
- Arctic & Antarctic – International Journal of Circumpolar Socio-cultural Issues
- The Research Chair on Images of the North, Winter and the Arctic at the Université du Québec à Montréal
- The International Laboratory for the Multidisciplinary Study of Representations of the North at the Université du Québec à Montréal
About the fundaments
- The increasing importance of the multidisciplinary study, including natural sciences when they deal with socio-cultural issues, and research of the comparative circumpolarity as a phenomenon not only territorial but also socio-cultural, regarding the Northern circumpolarity (Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, Québec, Canada, the Inuit world, Alaska/USA, Faroe Islands, Russia, China), the Southern circumpolarity (Antarctica and sub-Antarctica, Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia -Argentina & Chile-, Southern Atlantic Islands, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia), and also the Winter perspective.
- During more than a decade different scientific studies, works and agreements were done between universities and institutions located in the Northern circumpolarity (University of Iceland, University of Oulu, Université du Québec à Montréal, University of Jyväskylä, University of Lapland, University of Oslo, SPRI-University of Cambridge) and the Southern circumpolarity (Universidad del Salvador, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional – Facultad Regional de Tierra del Fuego, Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentine Foundation for High Studies on Antarctica and Extreme Environments-FAE, Argentina).
- Workshops and international conferences were organized on the circumpolar socio-cultural issues in Argentina, Québec, Canada, Iceland and Finland, as well as national and international film exhibitions in Iceland and Argentina.
- The International scientific refereed journal Arctic & Antarctic – International Journal on Circumpolar Socio-cultural Issues (Latindex) has been published annually for a decade, including numerous articles written by authors from different countries of both hemispheres.
- Books were published on the circumpolar sociocultural issue (i.e. The Circumpolarity as a sociocultural phenomenon. Past, Present, Future, E. del Acebo Ibáñez & H. Gunnlaugsson (dir.), CICLOP-UBA, Buenos Aires, 2010; La nordicité du Québec, D. Chartier & J. Désy, PUQ, 2014; Gender, Literature and Socio-cultural World, L. Saint-Martin & E. del Acebo Ibáñez (dir.), Milena-Buenos Aires & UQAM-IREF, 2015; Circumpolarity and Antarctica as socio-cultural and geopolitical phenomena, E. del Acebo Ibáñez (dir.), forthcoming at EDUSAL, Buenos Aires; Cold. Adaptation, Production, Representations, Effects, J. Borm and D. Chartier (dir.), forthcoming at PUQ.
About the goals
- To seek and compare mutual interpretations and solutions in order to strengthen the links between the Northern and Southern circumpolarities, Arctic and Antarctic communities, regional studies, communities, and areas into conversation in order to enrich and redeploy concepts and practices through new narratives of connection and comparison.
- To strengthen, share and intensify the use of digital data in the field of cultural and social research, both in the South and the North, on Northern and Southern circumpolarities.
- To create a multilateral academic and scientific framework, based in Ushuaia (Argentina), the southernmost city in the world, in order to imply a strong and efficient centripetalism of the socio-cultural studies on circumpolarity in the Arctic and the Antarctica.
- To promote scientific and cultural comparative studies, field research, documentation support, art practices, national and international meetings and conferences, academic and scientific exchanges, scientific publications, and the dissemination of knowledge to the communities, territories and institutions involved, in both Hemispheres.
- To tend to a more ample circumpolar consciousness at national, regional, continental and international levels, both in the South and the North, in relation to the educational system at all levels and also to intensive dissemination in all different media.
- To increase the exchange of academic and scientific staff, both in sciences and arts, and also the exchange of artists, postgraduate and graduate students between countries and institutions of both circumpolarities and elsewhere.
- To promote studies on indigenous peoples in both Northern and Southern circumpolarities, and their convergences.
- To call for national and international art, film and digital media exhibitions, tending to the identification and promotion of the circumpolar socio-cultural issues.
- To increase the production and promotion of scientific and cultural publications related to the issues thereof.
- To promote contests and proposals in the educational system at all levels, on the circumpolar socio-cultural theme, in order to impact not only in educational systems but also within local communities.
- To publish an annual scientific and socio-cultural report about Arctic and Antarctic circumpolar socio-cultural issues of both the Southern and Northern circumpolarities.
About the means
The Observatory will organize each year a management and organizational meeting, along with a scientific workshop, in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, or in one of the countries involved, to discuss scientific approaches and perspectives of the circumpolar socio-cultural phenomena. Field work and studies in both the Southern and Northern circumpolarities will be encouraged.
About the scientific committee
- Enrique del Acebo Ibáñez / PIECA, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad del Salvador (Argentina)
- Fernando Álvarez Álvarez (PIECA, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad del Salvador (Argentina)
- Jan Borm / Institute for Cultural and International Studies, Université de Versailles–Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France)
- Juan Castelucci / National University of Tierra del Fuego, Rector (Argentina)
- Daniel Chartier / Research Chair on Images of the North, Winter and the Arctic, International Laboratory for the Multidisciplinary Study of Representations of the North, Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada)
- Patrick Evans / Department of Design, Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada)
- Hólmfríður Garðarsdóttir / Faculty of Languages and Cultures, School of Humanities, University of Iceland (Iceland)
- Helgi Gunlaugsson / Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Iceland (Iceland)
- Gabriel Koremblit / Regional Faculty of Tierra del Fuego, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (Argentina)
- Konstantin Krivoshapkin / Vice-Rector for Research, North-East Federal University, Yakutsk (Sakha Republic, Russia)
- Samona Kurilova / Institute for Humanities and North Minorities People of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Sakha Republic, Russia)
- Fabián Lavallén / School of International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad del Salvador (Argentina)
- Juan Carlos Luján / Marambio Foundation / Antarctica (Argentina)
- Vera Nikoforova (Rector of the National School of Music of the Sakha Republic (Yakutsk, Russia)
- Burcu Ozsoy Cicek / Polar Research Center (PolRec), Istambul Technical University (Turkey)
- Ekaterina Romanova / Institute for Humanities and North Minorities People of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Laboratory of Complex Geocultural Studies of the Arctic, Russia)
- Florian Stammler / Arctic Center, University of Lapland & Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
- Anna Stammler-Gossmann / Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (Finland)
- Piers Vitebsky / Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
- Liudmila Zamorshchikova / North-Eastern Federal University, Chair of Thematic Network of the University of the Arctic, Yakutsk (Sakha Republic, Russia).
Place and Date: “Buenos Aires, May 19th, 2016”
Signatures :
- Enrique del Acebo Ibáñez (PIECA, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad del Salvador, Argentina)
- Daniel Chartier (Research Chair on Images of the North, Winter and the Arctic and International Laboratory for the Multidisciplinary Study of Representations of the North, Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada)
- Helgi Gunnlaugsson (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Iceland)
- Agustín García Serventi (National University of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina)
- Sergio Osiroff (Universidad Tecnológica Nacional — Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina)