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Accepted Paper:
Melting worlds and climate myths: diverging stories of climate change in Longyearbyen, an Arctic ‘frontline community’
Alexandra Meyer
(Dpt. of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna)
Zdenka Sokolickova
(University of Groningen)
Paper short abstract:
Climate change is a powerful story in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. By approaching climate change as a discourse, we compare dominant narratives about glaciers and avalanches with local counter-stories.
Paper long abstract:
Climate change is a powerful story in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, in the high Arctic. While natural science agrees on accelerating climate change with profound environmental impacts, this article unpacks the multidimensionality of the topic locally. By approaching climate change as a discourse, we explore the reception and reproduction of the dominant climate change discourse, and compare it to other local stories about climate change and adaptation. With this we aim to contribute to the growing field of reception studies in anthropology (De Wit & Haines 2021, Rudiak-Gould 2011). Examining narratives about snow avalanches and glaciers, we find counter-stories that nuance and contest dominant stories, pointing to over-simplification, sensationalism and the (mis)use of the climate discourse for other purposes. We argue that such counter-stories must be listened to in order to move in the direction of fair, inclusive, and transparent climate change politics.