Arctic Heritage: Commodification, Identity, and Revitalisation in the Anthropocene

Project Overview

ArcHeritage is the UK component of one of six international projects for the Joint Project Initiative on Cultural Heritage, Society and Ethics . It will run from academic year 2023/24 for three years and aims to explore the commodity chains of three iconic heritage artefacts in the Arctic: reindeer antler, the conical tent, and mammoth and walrus ivory.

The project will trace the oral histories and new market and social entanglements of these artefacts across several sites in Sápmi, Canada, and Greenland, linking them to historical pastoralist and hunting lifeways and their transformation over time. In recent years, each artefact has taken a new form within the heritage and tourism industries:

1. reindeer antler as Traditional Chinese Medicine;
2. the conical tent as a fixed tourism dwelling;
3. and ivory as souvenir carvings.

They thus tell a wider story of Arctic heritage and the relationship between indigenous producers, consumers, and the market.

Our objectives are to research the transformation of the artefacts into heritage objects and their movement across national and international commodity chains. We will follow their material and symbolic journeys through historical and emergent networks of harvesting, production, commercialisation, and consumption.

We will use ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and zooarchaeological analysis to investigate ancient and contemporary trade. We hypothesise a gap between the commercialisation of the artefacts and their non-utilitarian value in terms of skills, communities of practice, and experience-based knowledge. We anticipate this to feed into debates about tradition, ecological sustainability, and cultural loss, as well as renewed calls for cultural protection, revitalisation, and legislation. The project will thus tackle questions surrounding the ethics of heritage and ethnic tourism, the viability and sustainability of craft production, so-called 'heritage-isation' of indigenous culture, and the cultural politics of heritage in the context of the Arctic.

Click here to read the projects abstract and find further information.

The project is led by Dr. Richard Fraser at Norway's Arctic University (UiT). The UK lead is Prof David G. Anderson in the Department of Anthropology. The research is funded in the UK by the AHRC with support from the School of Social Science.

Project Members

• Professor David Anderson , (UK PI) University of Aberdeen
• Maria Nordvall , (UK PhD researcher) University of Aberdeen
• Dr Gro Ween , (UK Associate Project Lead) University of Oslo

• Dr Maarten Loonen , (NL PI) University of Groningen
• Emily Ruiz Puerta , (NL PhD researcher)
• Dr. Cunera Buijs , (NL Associate Project Lead) Wereld Museum Amsterdam

• Dr. Richard Alan Fraser , (NO PI & Project Leader) The Arctic University of Norway (UiT)
• Dr. Tommy Ose , (NO PhD researcher) The Arctic University of Norway (UiT)

From February 19th to 23rd, researchers and scholars participating in the ArcHeritage project convened in Groningen, Netherlands, for an intensive workshop focused on the intersections of commodification, identity, and revitalisation in the Anthropocene. Hosted by the Arctic Centre, the workshop facilitated dynamic discussions on ongoing research, emerging findings, and future collaborations. Several participants joined online, and we had the opportunity to listen to other projects at the Arctic Centre. The TRACES project led by Dr. Sean Desjardins presented on Digitalisation and Food Security.

The program included visits to the University Museum, the Zooarchaeological Collection from the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA), and the Wereldmuseum, enriching perspectives on Arctic heritage and material culture.The workshop concluded with reflections on future research directions, collaborative opportunities, and plans for a joint publication. The diversity of perspectives and disciplines represented in the discussions highlighted the importance of cross-cultural dialogue and interdisciplinary approaches in Arctic heritage research.

Our themes were:

• Lavvos and other miniatures in the Hætta collection returning home by Gro Ween Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oslo (UiO) and the Museum of Cultural History in Norway.
• A longer story about three tents by David Anderson Professor of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen
• Inside the circle outside the frame: fieldwork by Maria Nordvall PhD researcher at the University of Aberdeen
• Council of the Ravel: Hands-on Exhibition for Climate Heroes, Arctic exhibition at the Wereldmuseum by Cunera Buijs. Curator of the Arctic collection at the Wereldmuseum.
• Two Stories of Regulating Relations through Reindeer - Preliminary fieldwork findings by Tommy Ose. Postdoctoral researcher at the Arctic University of Norway (UiT)
• Antlers, Organs, and Spirits: Ontological Frictions and the Biopolitics of Reindeer Parts in Northeast China byRichard Fraser. Associate Professor within the Department of Social Sciences at the Arctic University of Norway (UiT)
• Arctic Ivory as a Commodity by Maarten Loonen. Associate Professor Arctic and Antarctic Science, University of Groningen (RUG).
• Contemporary Ivory Trade in Canada: the advantages and disadvantages for Arctic Indigenous communities in Nunavut & Fieldwork by Emily Ruiz Puerta. Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Groningen (RUG)
• Inuit belongings, digital remediation, and knowledge as relationship: Reflections towards a digitisation workshop with Elders and students from Nunavut by Jonathan Spellerberg. PhD candidate, TRACES project, University of Groningen (RUG)
• Food Security and Environmental Change: The Role of Subsistence Harvesting in Inuit WellbeingFood Security and Environmental Change: The Role of Subsistence Harvesting in Inuit WellbeingFood Security and Environmental Change: The Role of Subsistence Harvesting in Inuit Wellbeing byOlga Ievleva.  PhD candidate, TRACES project, University of Groningen (RUG)