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.

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 Asking Svalbard we begin to move beyond generalizations about the Arctic.  By digging deeper we interrogate a place that might only exist on the fringes of our imaginations—Svalbard, Norway.  Located well above 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 land of the cold shores. 

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.        

How many polar bears are in the world?  What are common misconceptions of the polar bear?  Joining us to discuss this and other questions is Dr. Todd Atwood, research wildlife biologist at the Alaska Science Center who has spent the last decade studying this hypercarnivorous mammal from the North.  This is the first 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.      

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.     

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.