Emerging from the shadow of science

challenges and opportunities for Antarctic history

Adrián Howkins

pp. 251-272

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

Abstract

This chapter uses the field of Antarctic history to think more broadly about future directions for the Antarctic humanities. Starting with the question "what does it mean to write history in a continent for science?" the essay examines some of the challenges and opportunities for historical scholarship in Antarctica. The dominance of the scientific paradigm imposes a number of constraints on historical research, but it also presents historians with numerous possibilities for engagement and collaboration. A central argument of the essay is that a reflexive awareness of the challenges facing Antarctic history is necessary to take full advantage of the opportunities. There are few places in the world where scientific research enjoys such a privileged status as it does in Antarctica, but the unequal relationship between science and the humanities is certainly not unique to the southern continent. The particularly dominant position of science in Antarctica helps to bring academic hierarchies into stark relief, and the essay concludes by thinking more broadly about interactions between humanist scholars and scientists, with a particular emphasis on the environmental humanities.