Brand Antarctica

This book looks excellent!

Out now from Hanne Nielsen. 

Happy #AntarcticaDay! The anniversary of the signing of the #AntarcticTreaty was the perfect date to launch my new book #Brand #Antarctica - published in the @UnivNebPress #Polar series https://t.co/PU1SLAXx9h pic.twitter.com/5CEa0wb6Ke

— Dr Hanne Nielsen (@WideWhiteStage) December 1, 2023

Cover image is here:

Description of the book from Hanne:

Antarctica is, and has always been, very much “for sale.” Whales, seals, and ice have all been marketed as valuable commodities, but so have the stories of explorers. The modern media industry developed in parallel with land-based Antarctic exploration, and early expedition leaders needed publicity to generate support for their endeavors. Their lectures, narratives, photographs, and films were essentially advertisements for their adventures. At the same time, popular media began to use the newly encountered continent to draw attention to commercial products. These advertisements both trace the commercialization of Antarctica and reveal how commercial settings have shaped the dominant imaginaries of the place.

By contextualizing and analyzing Antarctic advertisements from the late nineteenth century to the present, Brand Antarctica identifies five key framings of the South Polar continent: 

a place for heroes, 

a place of extremity, 

a place of purity, 

a place to protect, and

 a place that transforms. 

Demonstrating how these conceptual framings of Antarctica in turn circulate through our culture, Hanne Elliot Fønss Nielsen challenges common assumptions about Antarctica’s past and present, encouraging readers to rethink their own relationship with the Far South.

Hanne has clearly been developing this book for a while as there is a range of papers on ResearchGate exploring some of the stories from the last century which connect with this idea of Antarctica as a brand, and her PhD thesis from 2017 (available from this link) forms the backbone of the book one imagines, with some more recent additions.

At the moment it's out of my price range, but I've downloaded the PhD thesis and will be exploring this over the Christmas break.

Endurance is found

 Remarkable news.

© Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust / National Geographic

Endurance 2022

Today is the centenary of the death of 'The Boss': Sir Ernest Shackleton back in 1922.

One of the greatest survival stories in history involved the rescue of the crew of 'Endurance' after the ship sank in the ice during the Trans Antarctic Expedition he was leading. Shackleton led a march on the sea ice, a boat journey to Elephant Island, and then a trip in the James Caird through stormy seas which were peerlessly navigated by Frank Worsley, before an unprecedented first crossing  of the mountain range on South Georgia.

An expedition is heading off once again this year to try to locate the Endurance, using coordinates which were calculated for the location of the ship before it sank.

Check out the existing RGS-IBG Module.

I will be keeping my eye on the progress of this expedition.

Thought for the Day

“We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had “suffered, starved, and triumphed, groveled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole.” We had seen God in his splendors, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man.”

Sir Ernest Shackleton

Today is the 105th anniversary of the day that Sir Ernest, along with Tom Crean and Frank Worsley arrived at the whaling station at Stromness on South Georgia, following the boat trip from Elephant Island and the crossing of thae mountains and glaciers of South Georgia itself...

Shackleton Online - new for Y8 research

A new area of the Scott Polar Research Institute site. One of the places I always try to pop into when in Cambridge.

Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) participated in four expeditions to the Antarctic during the 'Heroic Age' of Antarctic exploration, leading three of them. He was an impressive leader, known for his bravery and ability to build camaraderie in his crews.

The Shackleton Online resource is a space where you can find out more about Shackleton’s expeditions, crew mates, the places they travelled to, and the exceptional collections of papers, photographs and objects related to Shackleton held by the Scott Polar Research Institute.

Shackleton Online features

Shackleton Stamps

Out in January 2016
Details here

Shackleton Enduring Eye exhibition

A century ago today, Sir Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the 'Endurance' were camping on the ice after the sinking of his ship - crushed in the ice. They faced possibly the most incredible story ever told, as they proceeded to save the life of everyone involved, with a number of voyages including one in the James Caird to South Georgia.

Parts of the journey were documented by the expedition's photographer Frank Hurley, who managed to save just some of the images that he took.

An exhibition opens today at the Royal Geographical Society, which shows the images, which have been digitised directly from the original glass plates. It runs through to the end of February 2016. I shall be taking this in at some point when I next go to London.

See details about the exhibition, which is free to enter, and an online exhibition on the RGS website here.

You can see a few sample images on this BBC news article about the exhibition.

The RGS has also produced some resources linked to their collections.

And finally, check out William Grill's wonderful picture book of 'Shackleton's Journey' and the associated Activity Book which we have used to produce some interesting resources.

Image copyright: Royal Geographical Society

Coming soon to Year 8

Thanks to Miss Kyndt for the heads-up on this activity book to accompany the original book telling the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's journey on the 'Endurance' expedition.

Looking rather fine...

Year 8 - check out DISCOVERY channel tonight...

For the first in a series where Tim  Jarvis and colleagues try to re-enact Shackleton's famous boat journey that we were talking about during Reading Festival week...
It's going to be an awesome programme...

Only trouble is, I don't have Sky...