Polar evening, February 24th, about women's polar history
Women's polar history
It is women who are in focus when the Ishavsmuseet invites you to this year's first Polar Evening on Friday, February 24th at 7:00 PM, and it is Anka Ryall who will tell us about the polar women.
Anka Ryall published the book Polar Women in 2022. The book breaks with the male-dominated perspective in Norwegian polar history and shines a spotlight on those who, because of their gender, have fallen into the blind spot of the dominant history – some of the many women who participated in polar activities throughout the 1900th century. Polar history becomes different when we see it from a gender perspective. But who were the polar women? What significance did they have? How and in what way has the memory of them been enshrined in history?
The longest chapter in Polar Women is about the young geologist Brit Hofseth, who died in 1941, at the age of just 24. She was the only female researcher on an expedition with Polarbjørn av Brandal to Northwestern Greenland in 1939. This expedition and Brit Hofseth's role are the subject of an enlightening article by Magnus Sefland in Isflaket 2/2022. At the same time, the strongly contradictory stories about her, in addition to her own account of the expedition, can be used to shed light on some of the dilemmas polar women experienced in the middle of the last century.
Anka Ryall is a professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The book Polar Women contains portraits of 17 polar women, and it is possible to buy the book during the polar evening.
In the usual style, dinner will also be served after the lecture for those who wish to do so, and this time the menu will include clipfish with good accompaniments. Registration at the Ishavsmuseet for food service.
Ticket lecture and food NOK 350,- you can order here: https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/produkter/arrangement/
lecture only NOK 150,-
