The Arctic is a burning issue for both environmentalists and scientists, as well as for the energy and mining companies leading the race for Arctic resources as the ice melts. The indigenous peoples of the Arctic, meanwhile, are seeing their land become the battleground of powerful Arctic state like Russia, the United States and Canada, intent upon economic development.

Think Globally Radio this week discusses the colonial heritage, the stories in media of the “wild” Arctic, the consequences of climate change for Arctic peoples and the struggles of indigenous communities for independence and development. This week’s episode features an interview with Kirsten Thisted, an associate professor at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen. Kirsten recently gave a talk entitled “Imperial Ghosts in the North Atlantic – Old and New Narratives about the Colonial relations between Denmark and Greenland” at KTH, and she shares with Think Globally Radio her insights and perspectives on the Inuit population of Greenland and the challenges it faces with modernization and environmental change.

The Think Globally Radio episode Nov 17 2013