Arctic Studies Minor
Arctic Minor Courses – 2023-2024
The following courses are required courses for the Arctic Studies minor or fulfill elective requirements. This page will be updated as course offerings become available. For questions on courses, contact the Canadian Studies Center at canada@uw.edu.
FALL QUARTER 2023
ARCTIC 200: Indigenous Diplomacies and International Relations in the Arctic **(3 cr.), M/W 11:30 a.m.-1:20 p.m., Jason Young, Senior Research Scientist, UW Information School
This course introduces students to international relations in the Arctic, with an emphasis on understanding IR from the perspective of the region’s Indigenous peoples. Students will study dramatic environmental, economic, and social transformations in the Arctic; learn about emerging geopolitical issues; explore Indigenous perspectives on international relations in the Arctic; and challenge themselves to understand international frameworks through the lens of Indigenous knowledge systems.
WINTER QUARTER 2024
ARCTIC 220/HSTCMP 220: At the Top of the World: Arctic Histories (5 cr.) Day/Time TBD, Elena Campbell, Associate Professor, Department of History
This course explores the history of human understanding of and relationship to the Arctic by tracing the social, economic, political, and environmental transformations of the Earth’s northernmost region, during the period from the earliest settlements to the end of the 20th century (the creation of the Arctic Council in 1996), as well as the shifts in ideas that accompany these changes.
ARCTIC 498/SCAND 490: Literatures of the Arctic: Unsettling Encounters and Cultures of Resilience (5 cr.), Day/Time TBD, Andy Meyer, Scandinavian Studies
SPRING QUARTER 2024
ARCTIC 401/ARCTIC 498: Current Issues in the Arctic (3 cr.), Day/Time TBD, 2024 UW Canada Fulbright Visiting Chair in Arctic Studies
JSIS B 103/SMEA 103: Society and the Oceans (5 cr.), Day/Time TBD, Brandon Ray
Explores the social, justice, and policy dimensions of the ocean environment and ocean management policy. Pays attention to how human values, institutions, culture, and history shape environmental issues and policy responses. Examines case studies and influential frameworks, such as the ocean as “tragedy of the commons.”
OCEAN 235: Arctic Change (2-5 credits), Day/Time TBD, Rebecca Woodgate, Senior Principal Oceanographer, UW Polar Science Center
This course investigates the Arctic system of ocean, ice, atmosphere, and sea-floor; how human interact with it, and what the future of the Arctic means to the world. Includes sea-ice loss, climate impacts, and Arctic resource exploitation.