Mapping Ultima Thule. Agata Lubowicka

149 John McLeod, Beginning Postcolonialism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 158. A similar stance is advocated by Leela Gandhi, who calls on postcolonial critics to show the ambivalence of the Oriental stereotype and to refuse “the pleasures of an Occidental stereotype.” Leela Gandhi, Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), p. 79.

150 Tiffin and Lawson, “The Textuality of Empire,” p. 10.

151 Loomis, “The Arctic Sublime,” p. 95.

152 Bjørst, En anden verden, 17–18.

153 Inger Nilsson, “Grönlandsfrågan 1929–1933: en studie i småstatsimperialism,” Umeå Studies in the Humanities, No. 17 (1978). Admittedly, though, none of the Scandinavian countries, their capacities severely limited as they were, aspired to an imperial status comparable with the British Empire. Hastrup, Vinterens hjerte, p. 140.

154 Emphatically, Scandinavian explorations of the polar zones varied profoundly between various states in terms of the time-frame of their respective concerted efforts, the territories on which the exploration focused and the nature of their pursuits. Ikonen and Pehkonen, “Explorers in the Arctic,” p. 129.

155 Norwegian scholar Urban Wråkberg, who studies the social, political and scientific aspects of the Arctic, observes that the vast majority of scientific polar explorations commenced in the 19th century explicitly aimed to facilitate taking possession of the area under exploration. Urban Wråkberg, “Polarområdenes gåter,” in: Norsk polarhistorie. I Ekspedisjonene, eds. Einar-Arne Drivenes and Harald Dag Jølle (Oslo: Gyldendal, 2004), p. 22.

156 Hastrup, Vinterens hjerte, p. 139.

157 Wråkberg, “Polarområdenes gåter,” p. 22. According to Wråkberg, this hero status was connected to an interest in descriptions of and information about polar expeditions which arose in the 19th century. Wråkberg, “Polarområdenes gåter,” p. 22.

158 Silje Solheim Karlsen, Triumf, lojalitet, avstand: Fridtjof Nansens Fram-ekspedisjon (1893–1896) – og bøker i dens kjølvann, a PhD dissertation completed at the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciencies and Education, Department of Language and Culture (Tromsø: University of Tromsø , 2011), http://munin.uit.no/bitstream/handle/10037/3796/thesis.pdf?sequence=3 (Accessed 15 Sept. 2011), p. 11.

159 Beau Riffenburgh views the rise of polar studies as bound up with Scandinavia, specifically with Sweden, and at first strictly scientific expeditions, such as the expedition to Sptisbergen undertaken by Swede Otto Martin Torell (1828–1900) in 1861, and with the pursuits of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, who contributed to the commercialisation of polar explorations. Beau Riffenburgh, The Myth of the Explorer: The Press, Sensationalism and Geographical Discovery (London & New York: Belhaven Press, 1993), p. 37.

160 Hastrup states that one reason why the Committee was founded was that a heated debate broke out in the Danish scholarly community after Nordenskiöld had found meteoritic iron in the island of Disko in 1870. The national rhetoric was marshalled to insist that as Greenland belonged to the Danish Crown, its exploration could not be left to chance and the will of “foreign researchers.” Hastrup, Vinterens hjerte, p. 246.

161 Bjørst, En anden verden, p. 18.

162 Bjørst, En anden verden, pp. 24–25.

163 Pratt, Imperial Eyes, p. 57.

164 “Polar literature” is a term used by literary scholar Nils Magne Knutsen to refer to a broad and heterogeneous body of texts, including besides Arctic expedition accounts writings such as biographies, memoirs and literary fictions about the Arctic. Karlsen, Triumf, lojalitet, avstand, p. 25. In 2017, an anthology edited by Norwegian literature researcher Henning Howlid Wærp was published, which featured the term “Arctic literature.” Henning Howlid Wærp, Arktisk litteratur: fra Fridtjof Nansen til Anne B. Ragde (Oslo: Orkana Forlag, 2017).

165 Beau Riffenburgh, The Myth of the Explorer, p. 2. Expedition accounts, which were written for a broad readership, contributed considerably to elevating polar explorers into heroes. Karlsen, Triumf, lojalitet, avstand, p. 69; Wråkberg, “Polarområdenes gåter,” p. 23.

166 Roy Bridges, “Exploration and Travel outside Europe (1720–1914),” in: The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, eds. Peter Hulme and Tom Youngs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 60–61.

167 Brigdes, “Exploration and Travel outside Europe,” pp. 66–67.

168 According to Riffenburgh, this showed in the Scandinavians’ eagerness to acquire Inuit knowledge and skills for survival in the Arctic. Riffenburgh, The Myth of the Explorer, pp. 114, 142–143.

169 Accounts of Norwegian polar expeditions were distinctively associated with national discourse, which thrived with particular robustness at the turn of the 19th century, when Norway became an independent nation. Karlsen, Triumf, lojalitet, avstand, p. 11.

170 Whereas Astrup died shortly after the English edition of his account was published, Rasmussen, for most of his life, remained in close contact with both Nansen and commander Holm: he met with them on many occasions, exchanged letters, asked for their advice or for letters of recommendation. They were all part of the great circle of Scandinavian polar explorers vividly described by Hastrup in her comprehensive work Vinterens hjerte. Michelsen, Vejen til Thule, p. 218; Hastrup, Vinterens hjerte, pp. 41–53; 184–200.

171 As observed by Riffenburgh, writing skills were a highly relevant factor in promoting polar explorers’ fame. Riffenburgh, The Myth of the Explorer, p. 164.

172 “Salvage travel writing” denotes a tendency which was particularly common among ethnographers towards depicting non-European peoples as subjects who will soon disappear from the globe and therefore need to be preserved for posterity. Helen Carr, “Modernism and Travel (1880–1940),” in: The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, eds. Peter Hulme and Tom Youngs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 82.

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