The Arctic

Driven by the interests of explorers and scientists, polar geography emerged from the quest for territory, fame, and recognition. Until the second half of the twentieth century, “polar geography” was a field for physical geographers and until fairly recently, human geographers were more interested in the Arctic than Antarctic. The end of the Cold War and subsequent focus on Arctic environmental conservation, the looming specter of climate change, and the International Polar Year (2007–2008) were largely responsible for reinvigorating geographical research in the north and for advancing knowledge concerning both the North and South Poles. There was growing recognition of the environmental vulnerability of the Arctic region to global patterns of pollution, industrialization, and climate change. But there has also been considerable development in the study of Indigenous communities’ adaptation and resilience in the Arctic region, and a new and growing interest in traditional knowledge in light of climate change and its local impacts. Similarly, knowledge of the relationship between policy, governance, and sovereignty has grown, and has led to a resurgence of geopolitical assessments of the Arctic, as well as new research concerned with understanding the relationship between human security and economic development. At the same time, human security broadly defined has emerged as an important topic for geographical consideration. Over the past decade or so, polar geography—particularly that of the Arctic—has developed a renewed interest in environmental events as a consequence of climate change and globalization, but has also become a much more collaborative and interdisciplinary exercise as the roster of new publications derived from research on human development, and social resilience shows—see Arctic Resilience Report 2016 (cited under Environments and Climate Change: Books and Edited Volumes) and Human Development Report: Regional Processes and Global Linkages (Arctic Human Development Report Volume II) cited under General Overviews of the Arctic: Books and Edited Volumes. The citations below reflect this broad range, beginning with introductory, general, and seminal works on the geographies of the Arctic and following with a series of links to journals and collections of articles and websites organized by relevant topics and themes.