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Arctic Games -An Exploration of Competing Spatial Imaginaries of the Circumpolar North

Onkenhout, Matilda LU (2025) SIMZ11 20251
Graduate School
Abstract (Swedish)
The Arctic has increasingly emerged as a geopolitical horizon shaped by environmental, security and economic transformations. As sea ice melts and military and commercial interests materialise, questions arise about how the region is discursively constructed by various stakeholders. With the Arctic Council in flux, alternative forums have gained significance as sites for dialogue and public diplomacy. This thesis explores how spatial imaginaries are discursively constructed and contested at the Arctic Circle Assembly (2023, 2024) and the EU Arctic Forum (2023). Grounded in a transdisciplinary framework that combines critical geopolitics, Wittgenstein’s concept of language games and Simmel’s spatial sociology, this study treats these forums... (More)
The Arctic has increasingly emerged as a geopolitical horizon shaped by environmental, security and economic transformations. As sea ice melts and military and commercial interests materialise, questions arise about how the region is discursively constructed by various stakeholders. With the Arctic Council in flux, alternative forums have gained significance as sites for dialogue and public diplomacy. This thesis explores how spatial imaginaries are discursively constructed and contested at the Arctic Circle Assembly (2023, 2024) and the EU Arctic Forum (2023). Grounded in a transdisciplinary framework that combines critical geopolitics, Wittgenstein’s concept of language games and Simmel’s spatial sociology, this study treats these forums as symbolic arenas where geopolitical meanings are negotiated and the Arctic emerges as “a site of spatial struggle”. Analysing 50 statements, it maps spatial imaginaries such as “Untouched – yet full of human systems”, “symbolic proximity”, “transboundary”, “geographic and bureaucratic distance”, and “legal jurisdictionality”. Within these, three language games are identified: “emptiness”, “close yet distant”, and “imagining sovereignty”. The study concludes that a Simmelian framework holds power in understanding a contemporary Arctic as “a space of strangers” within “competing sovereignty frames”. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Onkenhout, Matilda LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMZ11 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Arctic, Spatial Imaginaries, Wittgenstein-Language Games, Simmelian Sociology of Space, Public Diplomacy Forums
language
English
id
9196921
date added to LUP
2025-06-27 12:46:04
date last changed
2025-06-27 12:46:04
@misc{9196921,
  abstract     = {{The Arctic has increasingly emerged as a geopolitical horizon shaped by environmental, security and economic transformations. As sea ice melts and military and commercial interests materialise, questions arise about how the region is discursively constructed by various stakeholders. With the Arctic Council in flux, alternative forums have gained significance as sites for dialogue and public diplomacy. This thesis explores how spatial imaginaries are discursively constructed and contested at the Arctic Circle Assembly (2023, 2024) and the EU Arctic Forum (2023). Grounded in a transdisciplinary framework that combines critical geopolitics, Wittgenstein’s concept of language games and Simmel’s spatial sociology, this study treats these forums as symbolic arenas where geopolitical meanings are negotiated and the Arctic emerges as “a site of spatial struggle”. Analysing 50 statements, it maps spatial imaginaries such as “Untouched – yet full of human systems”, “symbolic proximity”, “transboundary”, “geographic and bureaucratic distance”, and “legal jurisdictionality”. Within these, three language games are identified: “emptiness”, “close yet distant”, and “imagining sovereignty”. The study concludes that a Simmelian framework holds power in understanding a contemporary Arctic as “a space of strangers” within “competing sovereignty frames”.}},
  author       = {{Onkenhout, Matilda}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Arctic Games -An Exploration of Competing Spatial Imaginaries of the Circumpolar North}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}