EPISODE FIFTY FIVE Asking Svalbard

Spanish scholar Javier Cardeña Contreras does all the heavy lifting in this inaugural 13-theme speed round exploration of Quijote, Shawshank Redemption, Antonio Machado’s Caminante, La Casa de Papel, Bulls, Eddie Davies, El Madroño, Wild West films, La Zapatilla, Translation, Duncan Williamson, Almodovar, and what it means to have a “pueblo” in Spain—all the while weaving a personal essay about home and identity.

In Climate Thinking Change we speak with Dr. Lawrence Hamilton of the University of New Hampshire about the survey work he has done to get closer to American perceptions of the Arctic. This radio expedition is most interested in exploring to what extent our geographical knowledge of the Arctic impacts how we might think about this far north region in social, political and environmental contexts.

Poster Bear is the second part of a two-episode exploration of two polar bears—the one that travels along the ice and the other one that circulates in the media.  Joining us is Dorothea Born, a Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholar from Mitteleuropa.  Born’s work examines the polar bear as an icon for the visual communication of climate change in popular science magazines.

On expedition in Svalbard we encountered the circa 1930s cabin that pioneer female big game hunter and writer Wanny Wolstad lived in during five overwinters. Literature scholar Dr. Ingrid Urberg contextualizes Wolstad and her writings within the works of other „Svalbard Daughters“ whose narratives collectively challenged the overtly masculine storytelling about the Arctic landscape all the while asking us to reconsider how we imagine the polar north.

In  Asking Svalbard  we begin to move beyond generalization about the Arctic. By digging deeper we interrogate a place that might only exist on the fringes of our imaginations-Svalbard, Norway. Located in the Arctic Circle, this archipelago is home to over 2,500 people. Guiding us in this radio expedition is  Rolf Stange , author of the top-selling guidebook for this country of the cold shores. 

How does one prepare for an expedition to the Arctic North?  In Don’t Feed the Bears we speak with Ann Christin Auestad, project manager at the Arctic Safety Centre to learn  more about the different training available for risk management and planning for expeditions within the polar north.  We also revisit with Patrick Schaudy (EPISODE TWO) to discuss his summer employment as a polar bear guard.  What is that?  Listen.

In Arctic Fever we embark on our multi-episode explorations of “The Arctic.”  Joining us is historian Michael Robinson—creator, host and producer of Time to Eat the Dogs, a weekly podcast about science, history, and exploration. We discuss his book, The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture, unpack what it means to go on expedition and outline the impact Arctic explorers had on the American imagination of this polar region.

In EPISODE FIFTY TWO we track down Andy Merrifield, a well-published UK-based geographer who left academia in 2003 to do what he loves. We discuss his writings on William Bunge, Guy Debord, Henri Lefebvre and John Berger and engage in a wide-ranging conversation that explores the expedition, the amateur, walking with a donkey and the pilgrimages geographical imaginations.

Who is imagining the energy landscapes of the future?  How are they doing it?  Where?  In what spaces?  Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry, Founding Co-Directors of the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), discuss the global project that is giving artists, architects, landscape architects, and other creatives a space to propose sustainable energy infrastructures and imagine a low-carbon future.

Celebrating Geographical Imaginations: Radio Expeditions into the Geographies of Everything and Nothing’s 50th episode we revisit the concept for the show and take a look back at all of the different questions, themes and collaborators that brought us here to this point over four years later.  If you are a new listener, this is a great departure point as each and every radio expedition is highlighted and summarized.