Paper short abstract:

This paper takes diaries from topographical fieldwork in Spitsbergen from 1909 to 1932 as a starting point for discussing how time is done, kept and found in the everyday life of Arctic expeditions. The diaries were written by a topographer who spent long summers on expeditions to map the region.

Paper long abstract:

This paper takes diaries from topographical fieldwork in Spitsbergen from approx 1910 to 1930 as a starting point for discussing how time is done, kept and found in the Arctic. The diaries are written by a topographer who spent long summers on expeditions to map the region. The expeditions were part of Norwegian attempts to secure sovereignity in the region through mapping, naming and mining. But the diaries tell a story about keeping time through everyday practices. The sleeping bag is a home, the gas burner an expectation, the rifle a friend. In the arid landscape of Spitsbergen, where the sun shines all through the night of the Summer, the everyday things help doing, keeping and finding time in multiple ways. Things are used to track changes, to store time and to let time pass. Expeditions need to keep on track, to disicpline time, to use the avaiable times, but they also need to be fluid, to allow for a week of bad weather that keep the members of the expedition inside the tent. Discipline and fluidity, and the things that make time will be discussed in the light of theories of the multiplicity of times and the precarious coordination of everyday time.