{"id":2744,"date":"2017-01-24T14:14:32","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T14:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/?p=2744"},"modified":"2017-01-24T14:37:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T14:37:05","slug":"keeping-it-polar-sanap-antarctic-historian-now-works-on-both-arctic-and-antarctic-issues-in-sweden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/2017\/01\/24\/keeping-it-polar-sanap-antarctic-historian-now-works-on-both-arctic-and-antarctic-issues-in-sweden\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping it polar: SANAP Antarctic historian now works on both Arctic and Antarctic issues in Sweden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lize-Mari\u00e9 van der Watt in Antarctic waters in the \u00a0summer of 2010\/2011<\/em><\/p>\n

Lize-Mari\u00e9 van der Watt conducted her PhD research over the period 2009 to 2012 in the Department of History of Stellenbosch University on the build up to, and the initiation and development of South Africa\u2019s National Antarctic Programme.\u00a0 She worked closely with the predecessor project to the Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, researching government and museum archives in South Africa, the UK and the USA for original sources.\u00a0 She also went on a number of road trips within South Africa together with Dora Scott, conducting oral interviews with veteran team members of the three South African bases on Marion and Gough Islands and at SANAE IV in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, as well as with scientists and support staff involved with SANAP.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Lize-Mari\u00e9 at her graduation ceremony, along with her supervisor, Sandra Swart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lize-Mari\u00e9 joined two SANAP relief expeditions: to Marion Island in 2009 (when she got to walk round the island overnighting in coastal field huts and also climbed it highest peak) and to SANAE IV over the 2010\/2011 summer.<\/p>\n

Lize-Mari\u00e9 van der Watt is now based in Stockholm, Sweden at the Division for History of Science, Technology and Environment<\/a>, KTH Royal Institute of Technology<\/a>, where she continues researching histories of polar pasts and polar futures.\u00a0 Her research publications include socio-environmental and political histories of South Africa and Antarctica.<\/p>\n

She writes: \u201cI am currently focusing on Arctic research, where I have three main interests: Arctic geopolitics and knowledge communities, with specific reference to global environmental change; future narratives for responsible development that draw on present and past imaginings of the future; as well as comparative histories of Arctic scientific institutions during the Cold War\u201d (click here<\/a>).\u00a0 While working on Arctic matters a steady stream of Antarctic publications emanating from her PhD research continues to emerge in the peer-reviewed literature, as listed below.<\/p>\n

Her PhD thesis abstract follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study addresses a little-known but important part of South Africa\u2019s history: its involvement with the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic in the twentieth century. It has a three-fold approach. Firstly, it provides insight into the motives driving South Africa\u2019s investment in the region, from the first call for a South African Antarctic expedition in 1919 to the post-apartheid recommitment to the South African Antarctic Programme. Interrogating of the reasons behind South Africa\u2019s activities in this region \u2013 including those that failed \u2013throws into relief broader issues about how and where South Africa saw itself in the geopolitical order. As such, this dissertation is situated within a body of Antarctic scholarship that seeks to subvert the prevailing homogenising narrative of the continent as simply the preserve of scientists and heroes. In particular, it investigates how tropes of imperialism and nationalism functioned in these remote corners of the world. Secondly, this dissertation investigates how changing perceptions of the extreme environment of Antarctica, and specifically the Prince Edward Islands, can add to our understanding of environmental history. It also shows how the values projected onto and invested in the environment as \u2018nature\u2019 changed over time. Thirdly, it takes into account the humans that were South Africa\u2019s presence in the region and how the underlying patterns in the fabric of South African society, including race and gender, crystalized on the Antarctic continent.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Lize-Mari\u00e9 in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica; SANAP’s Kamov KA-32A helicopter behind<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With thanks to Lize-Mari\u00e9 van der Watt.<\/p>\n

Antarctic publications by Lize-Mari\u00e9 van der Watt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roberts, P., Dodds, K. & van der Watt, L.-M. 2013. \u201cBut why do you go there?\u201d Norway and South Africa in the Antarctic during the 1950s.\u00a0 In: Sverker S\u00f6rlin, S. (Ed.).\u00a0 Science, Geopolitics and Culture in the Polar Region: Norden beyond Borders<\/em><\/a>. Farnham: Ashgate.\u00a0 pp. 79-107.<\/p>\n

Roberts, P. Howkins, A. & van der Watt, L.-M. 2016.\u00a0 Antarctica: a continent for the humanities. \u00a0In: Roberts, P. Howkins, A. & van der Watt, L.-M. (Eds). \u00a0Antarctica and the Humanities<\/a>. \u00a0<\/em>London: Palgrave Macmillan. \u00a0pp. 1-23.<\/p>\n

van der Watt, S.M.E. [=L.M.] 2012.\u00a0 Out in the Cold: Science and the Environment in South Africa\u2019s Involvement in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic in the Twentieth Century<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 PhD thesis, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch.\u00a0 255 pp.<\/p>\n

van der Watt, L.-M. 2013.\u00a0 Return to Gondwanaland: South Africa, Antarctica, minerals and apartheid.\u00a0 The Polar Journal<\/em> 3: 72-93<\/a>.<\/p>\n

van der Watt, L.-M. & Swart, S. 2015.\u00a0 Falling off the map: South Africa, Antarctica and Empire, c<\/em>. 1919\u201359. \u00a0The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth<\/em> History<\/em> 43: 267-291<\/a>.<\/p>\n

van der Watt, L.-M. & Swart, S. 2016.\u00a0 The whiteness of Antarctica: race and South Africa’s Antarctic history.\u00a0 In: Roberts, P. Howkins, A. & van der Watt, L.-M. (Eds). \u00a0Antarctica and the Humanities<\/a>. \u00a0<\/em>London: Palgrave Macmillan.\u00a0 pp. 125-156.<\/p>\n

van der Watt, L.-M. 2017.\u00a0\u00a0 Contemporary environmental politics and discourse analysis in Antarctica. In: Dodds, K. Hemmings, A. & Roberts, P. (Eds). \u00a0Handbook on the Politics of Antarctica<\/a>. \u00a0<\/em>Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. \u00a0pp. 584-598.<\/p>\n

John Cooper, Principal Investigator, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, 24 January 2017<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lize-Mari\u00e9 van der Watt in Antarctic waters in the \u00a0summer of 2010\/2011 Lize-Mari\u00e9 van der Watt conducted her PhD research over the period 2009 to 2012 in the Department of History of Stellenbosch University on the build up to, and the initiation and development of South Africa\u2019s National Antarctic Programme.\u00a0 She worked closely with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9815,"featured_media":2749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[850,3256],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antarctica","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9815"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2744"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2757,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744\/revisions\/2757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/antarcticlegacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}