PhD project Speculative fiction as a medium for understanding the Arctic amid climate change.
This project explores how speculative fiction can bridge the gap between science and literature in the context of climate change. By analysing works that depict the Arctic and its climate challenges from multiple perspectives, the research reveals how literature can aid in understanding sustainability and humanity's connection to the environment.
This project delves into the Arctic as a dynamic region facing profound cultural and environmental shifts, exploring its depiction within speculative fiction. By analysing works of fiction that merge fictional and factual elements of the climate crisis, it investigates how these stories influence our understanding of climate change's impact on Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous communities. This genre enables readers to engage with complex issues, envisioning not only possible futures but the present realities of a changing Arctic.
Bridging literature and science, this study applies ecocriticism (a literary approach emphasising environmental issues) to understand how speculative fiction reflects and critiques climate narratives. Focusing on speculative works, the project highlights how fiction serves as a lens for exploring ethical questions about sustainability, human agency and responsibility toward the planet and challenges audiences to reflect on the human-environment relationship.
As one of the most affected regions by climate change, the Arctic embodies both vulnerability and resilience. Literature portraying this unique landscape opens a space to discuss environmental and cultural resilience. This project provides a perspective on the ecological and cultural importance of this region, remote and unknown to many, and invites a deeper awareness of global interconnections and the need for sustainable approaches.
