Danita Catherine Burke, University of Southern Denmark.
The Arctic is many things to many people. In Canada, this malleability has made the region an incredibly valuable vehicle for nation-building and identity construction.
As a Newfoundland-born international politics scholar and author who researches Canada’s relationship with the Arctic, I believe that very pliability of the Arctic is an important feature of Canadian society, one that’s been cultivated for decades. The Arctic has intrigued many of us for myriad reasons since Confederation.
Canada’s most famous painters, the Group of Seven, focused extensively on the Canadian North in their work and Lawren Harris, (Read more…) particular, immortalized the imagery of a vast frozen landscape devoid of life into the national psyche and brand.