26 March 2025 | 08:30 - 10:00 (MDT)
Open Session - HYBRID
Room: UMC Fourth Floor - 425
Organisers: Rauna Kuokkanen (University of Lapland & University of Toronto); Nicole Joy Wilson (University of Manitoba); Shauna BurnSilver (Arizona State University)
Session Description:
Arctic governance for Arctic peoples occurs across a contemporary backdrop of transformational environmental and geopolitical change, colonial legacies, resurgent Indigenous sovereignty, and a crucial foundation of people-animal-landscape relationships. While climate change, marine transportation and geopolitical security concerns largely drive international narratives about the Arctic, processes of decision-making and governance will determine contemporary and future outcomes for Arctic and non-Arctic parties.
Academic and diplomatic framing of Arctic governance has been built on notions of nation-state and territorial sovereignty and rights. This hierarchical model is unrealistic given heightened engagement by sovereign Indigenous communities, and non-state actors, including corporations and non-profit organizations. Centering processes and dynamics of polycentric, multi-level governance in ways that enable novel governance arrangements to develop is critical. This requires re-imagining Arctic governance and power dynamics in ways that embrace diverse worldviews and knowledges, and understanding how entities navigate administrative rules to advocate for rights and decision-making that is equitable, just, flexible and dynamic.
This session brings together governance scholars across knowledge systems, disciplines, and local to global governance arrangements to engage with the roles, priorities and legal structures of diverse state and non-state actors with a focus on resurgent Indigenous sovereignty, and governance across a range of environmental and development contexts.
We propose a 90-minute curated panel consisting of 6 flash talks, that first define governance, then highlight key governance stakes across the RPTs, followed by a moderated discussion with the audience. Previewed speakers include Shauna BurnSilver, Tatiana Degai, Rauna Kuokkanen, Elana Wilson Rowe, Nicole Joy Wilson and Abigail York.