Technocratic Antarctic

Jessica O'Reilly

Description

The Technocratic Antarctic is an ethnographic account of the scientists and policymakers who work on Antarctica. In a place with no indigenous people, Antarctic scientists and policymakers use expertise as their primary model of governance. Scientific research and policymaking are practices that inform each other, and the Antarctic environment-with its striking beauty, dramatic human and animal lives, and specter of global climate change-not only informs science and policy but also lends Antarctic environmentalism a particularly technocratic patina.Jessica O'Reilly conducted most of her research for this book in New Zealand, home of the "Antarctic Gateway" city of Christchurch, and on an expedition to Windless Bight, Antarctica, with the New Zealand Antarctic Program. O'Reilly also follows the journeys Antarctic scientists and policymakers take to temporarily "Antarctic" places such as science conferences, policy workshops, and the international Antarctic Treaty meetings in Scotland, Australia, and India. Competing claims of nationalism, scientific disciplines, field experiences, and personal relationships among Antarctic environmental managers disrupt the idea of a utopian epistemic community. O'Reilly focuses on what emerges in Antarctica among the complicated and hybrid forms of science, sociality, politics, and national membership found there. The Technocratic Antarctic unfolds the historical, political, and moral contexts that shape experiences of and decisions about the Antarctic environment.

Sujets

• Sciences et techniques
• Environmental science
• Climate change
• Antarctica

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 17 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501708367
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Technocratic Antarctic

E X P E R TISE C U L T U R E S A N D T E C H N O L O G I E S

O F K N O W L E D G E

edited by dominic boyer

A list of titles in this series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

The Technocratic Antarctic

An Ethnography of Scientific Expertise and Environmental Governance

Jessica O’Reilly

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2017 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2017 by Cornell University Press First printing, 2017, Cornell Paperbacks

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: O’Reilly, Jessica, 1978– author. Title: The technocratic Antarctic : an ethnography of scientiîc expertise  and environmental governance / Jessica O’Reilly. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2017. | Series: Expertise |  Includes bibliographical references and index. Identiîers: LCCN 2016034188 (print) | LCCN 2016035242 (ebook) |  ISBN 9780801454127 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780801456923  (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501708350 (epub/mobi) |  ISBN 9781501708367 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Antarctica—Research. | Scientists—Antarctica. |  Ethnology—Antarctica. | Human ecology—Antarctica. |  Environmental policy—Antarctica. Classiîcation: LCC G877 .O74 2017 (print) | LCC G877 (ebook) |  DDC 559.89072—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016034188

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood îbers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Acknowledgments

List of Acronyms

Introduction

1. The Imagined Antarctic

Contents

2. The Environmental History of the Antarctic

3. Sensing the Ice

4. Samples and Specimens at Antarctic Biosecurity Borders

5. Managing Antarctic Science in an Epistemic Technocracy

6. Tectonic Time and Sacred Geographies in the Larsemann Hills

7. Charismatic Data and Climate Change

Conclusion: The Technocratic Governance of Nature

Notes References Index

vii xi

1 16 35 63 84 102 121 140 171

181 187 197

Acknowledgments

Working with Antarctic people continues to be engaging, challenging, and fun. So the îrst debt of gratitude I have is to those in the Antarc- tic community whom I have worked with over the past ten years, includ- ing Jim Barnes, Kees Bastemeijer, Trish Bergmann, Evan Bloom, Julian Chen, Claire Christian, Mark Epstein, Neil Gilbert, Lyn Goldsworthy, Alan Hemmings, Daniela Liggett, Ron Naveen, Polly Penhale, Michelle Rogan-Finnemore, Ricardo Roura, Larry Rudolf, Lou Sanson, Bryan Sto- rey, Tina Tin, Briar Wait, Barry Weeber, and the dozens of people who I interviewed, chatted with, and attended numerous presentations and conferences with over the years. I would particularly like to recognize the members of GCAS 8 for their friendship on the Windless Bight and beyond. I started with another research plan in place but a long-term scheme to write an ethnography of Antarctica. Thankfully, the faculty and students in the anthropology department at the University of California Santa Cruz veer toward the creative: their collegiality helped turn my scheme into

v i i i A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

reality. Anna Tsing and Hugh Rafes could not have been better cham- pions or more critical, helpful readers. Don Brenneis, Andrew Mathews, Ravi Rajan, Susan Harding, and Jim Clifford were also tremendous inter- locutors while I conducted my research. I would also like to thank Judith Habicht-Mauche for her leadership and encouragement. Fred Deakin, Stephanie Crider, and Debbie Neal provided all sorts of logistical assis- tance that was sometimes nothing short of miraculous: thank you! I did part of my writing during my time at University of California San Diego and Princeton University. I would like to acknowledge my mentors Naomi Oreskes and Michael Oppenheimer for their support and help in thinking through climate science from multiple perspectives, as well as the support and engagement of my colleagues Dale Jamieson, Keynyn Brysse, Matthew Shindell, Will Thomas, and Milena Wazeck. I would like to thank my colleagues at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University: Richard Albares, Ellen Block, Sheila Nel- son, Derek Larson, Jean Lavigne, Troy Knight, Matt Lindstrom, Jessica Harkins, Anna Mercedes and many others. I would particularly like to thank Jeff Kamakahi for reading an early version of my entire manu- script. Finally, many thanks to Sheila Hellermann, who helped with many of the logistical requirements of publication with great kindness and professionalism—you are a treasure. This book has beneîted from advice and comments from friends, from roughest draft through the înal manuscript. Many provided input over the years, including Jessie Barnes, Eunice Blavascunas, Heath Cabot, Jeremy Campbell, Lindsey Collins, Sandra Koelle, Martha Lampland, Fabiana Li, Ben Orlove, Juno Parrenas, Noah Tamarkin, and Jerome Whitington. Thank you to the following for înancial support of this research: Fulbright-IIE and the wonderful people at the Fulbright New Zealand ofîce, the Social Science Research Council, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University, the Anthropology Department at the University of California Santa Cruz, and the Graduate Student Association at UCSC. Portions of chapter 3 were previously published in “Sensing the Ice: Field Science, Models, and Expert Intimacy with Knowledge” in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute22, no. 1, 27–45, in 2016. Por- tions of chapter 6 were previously published in “Tectonic History and

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s i x

Gondwanan Geopolitics in the Larsemann Hills, Antarctica” inPoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review34, no. 2, 214–232, in 2011. I am grateful to work with Cornell University Press to publish this book, particularly the series editor Dominic Boyer, and editors Jim Lance, Susan Specter, and Kate Babbitt. Their insightful and careful comments have vastly improved the înished product—thank you. My husband, John, is a true partner in this project and in life: thank you for everything. Michael and Quinn, our children, complete our family and bring unimaginable love and joy to our lives. They have been pretty distracting while I’ve tried to meet writing deadlines, but I’ll thank them anyway. Thank you to Grandma, Rachel, Tony, and the O’Reillys. And thank you to my mother and father, whose love, sacriîces, enthusiastic armchair traveling, weather watching, and high expectations have meant the world to me.