International Polar Year 2007-2008
To facilitate the submission of arctic social science and humanities proposals to the International Council for Science (ICSU) for prospective endorsement as IPY projects, IASSA has launched an initiative to create a vigorous exchange of ideas, discussion, and active communication. The following was submitted to IASSA on its form at IASSA IPY Facilitation Initiative:

David G. Anderson: Translocating Wildlife and Imagined Landscapes: Conflicting Cultural Constructions of Arctic Landscapes
Email: david.anderson@abdn.ac.uk

We welcome collaboration from other scholars working in anthropology, environmental history, and the history of science.

Brief Description of Project Idea:
The history of wildlife management in the Arctic has been punctuated by experimental introductions of various species (e.g. Klein 1988; Lent 1999). The central thrust of our project is to investigate the history of translocations of such species as muskoxen (e.g. Lent 1999) and planned introductions of other species (e.g., Zimov and Chapin 199_; Stone 1998; Guthrie 2001) into Arctic ecosystems. We are interested in studying stated scientific motivations and rationalizations for "restoring" imagined Pleistocene landscapes. Such landscapes may be productively considered as cultural artefacts and re-constructions of prehistoric (imagined) ecosystems. Our project will include evaluating conflicting perceptions of wildlife management and translocated animals (e.g. Anderson 2004; Beach 2004; Nagy 2004; Wishart 2004), and how wildlife managers imagine "reconstructing" past landscapes through translocating animals as a natural and restorative process.

The practice translocating fauna in order to restore landscapes has attracted much controversy, but it is not well documented. We would like to document this process through on-site anthropological research as well as to retrieve working documents on specific projects involving muskoxen and bison. We would also like to analyse recent projects to "retrobreed" extinct fauna such as woolly mammoths. We welcome collaboration from other scholars working in anthropology, environmental history, and the history of science.

Core Collaborators
Dr. David Anderson, Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen
Dr. Franca Boag, Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta
Dr. Rob Wishart, Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen


Sincere thanks to the U.S. National Science Foundation for support for the IASSA IPY facilitation initiative.

Questions? Contact Anne Sudkamp at <fyiassa@uaf.edu>.

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 This page was last modified October 24, 2005 by Anne Sudkamp