The Arctic, the subject of the Minnesota International Center's "Great Decisions" dialogue this month, is most closely associated with conversations about climate change.
But cultural change is affecting the Arctic, too, as local languages and cultures risk melting into an increasingly interconnected, internationalized world.
Among those following these phenomena are two regional researchers, Timothy Pasch, an assistant professor of communication at the University of North Dakota, and Aaron Doering, an associate professor in learning technologies at the University of Minnesota. Both are using new-media tools to study old ways, and in the process they hope to help indigenous Arctic people preserve their language and culture.
On Tuesday in Grand Forks, Pasch will present his work at a symposium sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada and the University of North Dakota titled "Science, People and Sustainability in the Canadian Arctic: From the 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition to the 2013 Arctic Council Chairmanship."
The symposium will celebrate the centennial of the launch of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, which was led by one-time UND student Vilhjalmur Stefansson. As the title suggests, the symposium will reflect on the past but be forward-focused as well.
"Stefansson acknowledged the dangers created by what he called 'civilization's juggernaut,' " Pasch said. "He was cognizant of modern society as a potential danger. Yet at the same time he was also of the mind that the Arctic was full of enormous economic and societal potential."
Yet no matter how prescient, predicting how media technologies would change culture in the "modern society" that Stefansson envisioned would have been impossible. In fact, even relatively recent changes are striking.
"There are many, many social issues right now in the north," Pasch said. And they are "partly related to the enormous cultural and linguistic upheaval, caused to some extent by the massive increase in media."