Finding place in Antarctica

Alessandro Antonello

pp. 181-203

in: Roberts Peder, Lize-Marié van der Watt, Adrián Howkins (eds), Antarctica and the humanities, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

This chapter explores the idea of "place" in Antarctica in contrast to dominant visions of a uniform Antarctic space. This chapter historicizes and critiques the idea of Antarctica as a whole or unified space, illuminating the imperial Cold War, and geopolitical projects behind such visions, and the implications of "global commons' projects for Antarctica. In contrast to these visions, this chapter explores the experiences and contours of place and place-making in Antarctica through the history of biology, ecology, conservation, and environmental protection and management efforts since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and through the history of environmentalists", artists' and writers' engagements with the region since the 1980s. This attention to place reveals the many projects and strategies of human engagement with Antarctica.