NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
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Support for this project was provided by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through targeted core support.
Cover: Eskimo elders Kate and Tom Brower (now deceased), Barrow, Alaska. This photo appeared in the Winter 1992 issue of UIÑIQ magazine. (Courtesy of Bill Hess, Running Dog Publications, Wassilla, Alaska.)
Available in limited supply from the Polar Research Board, National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418
Copyright 1993 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
COMMITTEE ON ARCTIC SOCIAL SCIENCES
MIM DIXON (Cochair), Chief
Andrew Isaac Health Center, Fairbanks, Alaska
ORAN R. YOUNG (Cochair),
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
DOUGLAS D. ANDERSON,
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
GARRY D. BREWER,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
ERNEST S. BURCH, JR.,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
CONSTANCE D. HUNT,
Court of Queen's Branch of Alberta, Alberta, Canada
ROBERT F. KRAUS,
University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington
JOHN A. KRUSE,
University of Alaska, Anchorage
EDNA A. MacLEAN,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
CLAUS-M. NASKE,
Fairbanks, Alaska
GEORGE W. ROGERS,
Juneau, Alaska
ARLON R. TUSSING,
Arlon R. Tussing and Associates, Seattle, Washington
PETER J. USHER,
P. J. Usher Consulting Services, Ottawa, Canada
NRC Staff
SHERBURNE B. ABBOTT, Director,
Committee on International Organizations and Programs (Staff Director, Polar Research Board through 7/31/92)
DAVID A. SHAKESPEARE, Research Associate
MARIANN S. PLATT, Senior Project Assistant
POLAR RESEARCH BOARD
ROBERT H. RUTFORD (Chair),
University of Texas at Dallas
RITA R. COLWELL (Vice-Chair),
Maryland Biotechnology Institute, University of Maryland, College Park
NORBERT UNTERSTEINER (Vice-Chair),
University of Washington, Seattle
EDDY C. CARMACK,
Department of Fisheries & Oceans, Sidney, Canada
F. STUART CHAPIN III,
University of California, Berkeley
INEZ Y. FUNG,
Goddard Institute of Space Studies, New York, New York
JOHN L. LaBRECQUE,
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York
MARK F. MEIER,
INSTAAR,
University of Colorado, Boulder
JOHN P. MIDDAUGH,
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Anchorage
THEODORE J. ROSENBERG,
University of Maryland, College Park
DONALD B. SINIFF,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
SUSAN SOLOMON, NOAA ERL
Aeronomy Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado
WILFORD F. WEEKS,
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
ORAN R. YOUNG,
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Ex-Officio Members
CHARLES R. BENTLEY,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
ELLEN S. MOSLEY-THOMPSON,
Ohio State University, Columbus
NRC Staff
LOREN W. SETLOW, Director,
Polar Research Board
DAVID A. SHAKESPEARE, Research Associate
MARIANN S. PLATT, Senior Project Assistant
KELLY NORSINGLE, Senior Project Assistant
COMMISSION ON GEOSCIENCES, ENVIRONMENT, AND RESOURCES
M. GORDON WOLMAN (Chair),
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
PATRICK R. ATKINS,
Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
PETER S. EAGLESON,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
EDWARD A. FRIEMAN,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
HELEN M. INGRAM,
University of Arizona, Tucson
W. BARCLAY KAMB,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
GENE E. LIKENS,
The New York Botanical Garden, Millbrook
SYUKURO MANABE,
NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey
JACK E. OLIVER,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
FRANK L. PARKER,
Vanderbilt/Clemson University, Nashville, Tennessee
DUNCAN T. PATTEN,
Arizona State University, Tempe
RAYMOND A. PRICE,
Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada
MAXINE L. SAVITZ,
Garrett Ceramic Components, Torrance, California
LARRY L. SMARR,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
STEVEN M. STANLEY,
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
WARREN WASHINGTON,
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
EDITH BROWN WEISS,
Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.
IRVIN L. WHITE,
Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Washington, D.C.
NRC Staff
STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Associate Executive Director
LORRAINE W. WOLF, Assistant Executive Director
JEANETTE SPOON, Administrative Officer
BARBARA SINGLETARY, Administrative Associate
ROBIN LEWIS ALLEN, Senior Project Assistant
Preface
The Committee on Arctic Social Sciences was established in 1987 to undertake a study to provide direction for social science research on arctic topics. The committee was charged with reviewing existing research, identifying research needs, and recommending future directions for the social sciences in the Arctic.
The committee held two public meetings in Washington, D.C. in November 1987 and July 1988, and a workshop at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Arctic Science Conference in Fairbanks, Alaska, in October 1988. In addition, numerous scientists from federal and state of Alaska agencies, private organizations, and universities were contacted. By involving a range of social scientists in its study, the committee hoped to encourage broad participation in the further development of arctic social science research and policy. These individuals also provided information on relevant topics and literature in the arctic social sciences that helped in the production of this volume.
In 1989 the committee produced its study report, Arctic Social Science: An Agenda for Action. That report discusses priority research needs for arctic social science and the infrastructure requirements to meet those needs. The report was intended to serve as a major document for the 1989 revision of the U.S. Arctic Research Plan, mandated by the Arctic Research and Policy Act (ARPA) of 1984. In addition, the agencies represented on the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (established under ARPA)
provided intraagency reviews and analyses of how to implement the report's recommendations.
At its November 1989 meeting, the committee determined that a multidisciplinary summary of significant findings of arctic social science research was needed. In response to a request from the Polar Research Board, the committee began an assessment in late 1989 of potential contributions from the arctic social sciences to the social science disciplines, building on the literature review undertaken to prepare the 1989 study report. The present report expands on the 1989 report and devotes particular attention to the potential contributions of arctic social sciences to the theoretical and practical concerns of mainstream social sciences. This study was supported by grants to the Polar Research Board from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In the course of preparing this report, the intended audience has changed. The report was originally prepared as a journal article, but it was later decided that it would be released as a committee document. Because of the difficulty in providing the breadth of the supporting arguments that would normally accompany chapters in a committee report, as well as the need to draw parallels between each topic presented in the present report and the recommendations in the committee's 1989 study report, Arctic Social Science: An Agenda for Action is included here as an appendix.
The Polar Research Board appreciates the dedication and patience of Mim Dixon and Oran Young, cochairs of the Committee on Arctic Social Sciences, and the efforts of the committee members in the conduct of the study and the preparation of this report.
Robert H. Rutford, Chair
Polar Research Board
