Arctic World Politics Conversations
Arctic World Politics Conversations bring together speakers from different parts of the Circumpolar Arctic, to discuss topical matters in Arctic World Politics across the geographic, political, social and cultural divisions and differences. Every event starts with a conversation between the invited speakers, after which the audience is also invited to participate with their comments, questions and ideas. Everyone is welcome and participation is free.
Arctic World Politics Conversations are organized in collaboration between University of Lapland's MA in Arctic World Politics (contact person Laura Junka-Aikio) and Trent University (contact person Heather Nicol).
1. Arctic Remilitarization Across the Nordics and Canada
The ongoing (re)militarization of the Arctic has many consequences for local communities and especially the region’s Indigenous peoples. In Sápmi, Finland and Sweden’s Nato memberships and the bilateral Defence Cooperation Agreements with the US are facilitating growing military presence and training activities, at the same time as regional develoment is increasingly dictated by military and security concerns. Together, these changes pose new challenges to Sámi traditional livelihoods, especially reindeer herding, posing a need to address possible conflicts between military and traditional land use and to create better practices to avoid and minimize harm to Indigenous culture, livelihoods and rights.
In Canada, militaries and military land use have had a decisive role in both facilitating settler colonialism and appropriation of Indigenous lands, while also contributing to some of the infrastructures that are today vital also for the region’s Indigenous peoples. Today the relations between the military and these communities are well established and also Canada’s Arctic Strategy explicitly recognizes the value of Indigenous peoples for military preparedness and resilience while reciprocating with the recognition of Indigenous rights. In this conversation, we wish to bring together experiences from Sápmi and Arctic Canada and Alaska, to discuss the role that militaries, military histories and military land use have, in good and bad, for the region’s Indigenous peoples, and what are the concrete challenges that Indigenous peoples may face now that the region is again undergoing heavy militarization. In addition, we hope to discuss the different practices that are at place to minimize and prevent harm to Indigenous culture and livelihoods across the Arctic Ocean and how to move forward in an effort to hold militaries accountable and to prevent the mistakes that were made in the past during the cold war and beyond.
Speakers
WHITNEY LACKENBAUER is Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Study of the Canadian North and Professor in the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University. He was Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories from 2014-2020 and was reappointed to this position from 2022-2025. Whitney specializes in Arctic security, sovereignty and governance issues, modern Canadian military and diplomatic history, and Indigenous-state relations. He has (co-) written or (co-) edited more than sixty books and more than one hundred academic articles and chapters. His book The Canadian Rangers: A Living History, 1942-2012 (2013) was shortlisted for the Dafoe prize, and his co-authored book Arctic Front: Defending Canada in the Far North (2008) won the 2009 Donner Prize for the best book on public policy in Canada. Full info on Lackenbauer’s research can be accessed on his website.
LAURA JUNKA-AIKIO is a Professor of Northern Politics and Government at the University of Lapland, and coordinator for the new international Arctic World Politics MA at University of Lapland. Junka-Aikio’s areas of expertise include contemporary colonialisms, the politics of land use and sustainability, and Indigenous politics, rights and resistance especially in Palestine and Sápmi. For the past two years, her research has focused on political, cultural and social perspectives to the militarization of the Arctic and growing military land use in Sápmi and Northern Finland. Her report on the impact of the militarization of Sámi territories on Sámi culture, livelihoods and rights in Finland, commissioned by the Sámi Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is available by following the link in the button below.
2. De/Colonial Energy: Politics and Justice in Energy transitions
The energy transition is considered essential for climate action and sustainability. However, this major shift is also more fundamentally reshaping our societies and world politics, and its social, political, economic and environmental impacts are far reaching and complex. For instance, the move from fossil fuels towards renewable energies changes where and by whom energy can be produced and based on what resources; a relocation, rather than elimination, of the environmental costs;; and potential reallocation of wealth and power linked to energy. The energy transition is giving rise to various new challenges, contestations and opportunities locally, and reshaping world politics. These changes are particularly visible in the context of the current geopolitical tensions in and around the Arctic region and the changing world order.
Our next Arctic World Politics Conversation, De/Colonial Energy: On the Politics and Justice of Energy transitions discusses the politics of energy transition with particular focus on its manifold impact on Indigenous peoples, local communities and national and regional policies within the Arctic. By bringing together insights from Canada (Isaac Thornley, University of Toronto), Sápmi (Åsa Larsson Blind, Saami Council) and Finland and Norway (Marja -Helena Sivonen, Finnish Environment Institute Syke) we examine themes such as, the relationship between energy transitions, (green) colonialism and decolonization and the impact of geopolitical change on Nordic and Canadian energy discourses and policies. The key question we address is, how can the energy transition be steered towards a globally and locally more just, equalitarian and responsible world instead of reproducing the power structures and inequalities that we have inherited from the passing era of petrocultures and fossil hegemony. The conversation is moderated by Professor Laura Junka-Aikio (University of Lapland).
Speakers
ÅSA LARSSON BLIND is currently Vice-President of the Saami Council. She was born and raised in a reindeer herding family and holds an MA degree in Human Resources Management and Development from the University of Umeå. Åsa Larsson Blind has been active in several Sámi organizations in Sweden, including the Saami Council where she was the elected President in the period 2017-2019, and the Sámi Association in Sweden which she chaired in 2019-2021. Larsson Blind also has broad experience of municipal politics in Kiruna where she has been elected as a representative of a local Sámi party, Sámelistu, in 2018 and 2022. In her time with the Saami Council, Larsson Blind also served from 2011 to 2015 on the board of the Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat.
ISAAC THORNLEY is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Environment, Conservation, and Sustainability (IECS) and the Department of Human Geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough. His research focuses on the political and ideological dimensions of energy transitions, with a focus on conflicts related to fossil fuel pipelines, electric vehicle battery supply chains, and critical mineral extraction in Canada. He is interested in producing critical research in support of movements for social and environmental justice, decolonization, and energy democracy. His interdisciplinary work draws on political ecology, energy humanities, and (psychoanalytic) ideology critique.
MARJA HELENA SIVONEN (PhD) currently works as a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute and is a visiting scholar at Arctic International Relations research group at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland during 2025–2026. Her research spans climate mitigation and adaptation, energy transitions, security, justice, and Arctic affairs. Grounded in social constructivist perspectives, she explores how discourse shapes societal change. She is also a vice-chair of the Finnish Arctic Society.