Breaking the Ice (March 2008)
On March 30, 2008, Lexington Books published Breaking the Ice: From Land Claims to Tribal Sovereignty in the Arctic by Barry Scott Zellen. The book examines the Native rights movement in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic and the evolution of land claims policy as it crossed the international boundary, becoming a powerful tool for Native people to reclaim their heritage and re-empower themselves politically, while at the same time becoming stakeholders in the economic modernization of the North.
According to Dick Hill, the first Mayor of Inuvik where Zellen resided in the early 1990s: “Zellen’s book is timely to understand modern northern dynamics. As the Arctic ice recedes and temperatures rise, there is a need to take action on any benefits and to reduce any adverse effects. His description of ‘sovereign duality’ for northerners to be citizens and meaningful participants is helpful. Zellen effectively describes the importance of subsistence and how it is intertwined with land claims and co-management systems. The whole world is affected with sustainable living and environmental preservation in the same way that northern Native people are concerned for their regions. Breaking the Ice is an important contribution to Arctic understanding and open knowledge.”
Edwin Kolausok, former Deputy Mayor of Inuvik and federal land claims negotiator, comments: “the history recorded by Zellen in this important book is very timely and relevant in our world today,” and that the Native “struggle to re-establish self-sufficiency and self-determination within the federation of Canada, via self-government and land claims, is eloquently explained by Zellen,” who “unfolds the intricate work that was done through land claims negotiations leading to the corporate structures and their co-management systems that ultimately will lead to self-governance, and continue to shape the ‘domestic tranquility’ of the Arctic.”
Dr. James Wirtz, Professor of National Security Affairs and Dean of the School of International Graduate Studies at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), has commented: “In this sweeping political and strategic history of the North American Arctic, Zellen provides us with a fascinating account of the struggle of Native Americans to regain some semblance of control over their lands. As global economic growth places a premium on securing new sources of energy resources and other raw materials, issues of sovereignty in the Far North will only grow in importance. Zellen provides the reader with the context needed to understand the ongoing international and domestic competition for control of the Arctic. This is a path-breaking study of an emergent issue in world politics.”
Professor Thomas Johnson, the Director of the Program for Culture and Conflict Studies at NPS has added: “Tribal-state relationships, border problems, militant insurgencies, economic exploitation/dependence and oil are the stuff of this fascinating book that is NOT about the Middle East. Barry Zellen has written a dense and meticulously researched book of the trials and tribulations of the Inuit of Canada and other indigenous peoples of Alaska, Northern Canada and the Arctic regions as they strive for sovereignty and confront and adapt to modernity and globalization. Zellen tells a story that has significant relevance to many of the present dilemmas facing the international political economic system. Zellen’s Breaking the Ice: From Land Claims to Tribal Sovereignty in the Arctic deserves broad readership.”
Now in its second printing, Breaking the Ice has generated additional praise from northern, indigenous and strategic studies scholars, including the following:
"Barry Scott Zellen’s work is seminal—he is the first to write about comparative Inuit governance across North America. Breaking the Ice fills a critical need in the history and literature of Arctic political movements. What has occurred in Inupiat and Inuit communities in Alaska and Canada, in little more than a generation, is nothing short of remarkable. Zellen documents the evolving self-determination efforts in incredible detail and with creative insight. He rightly identifies a new and influential 'voice' that has emerged on the international scene since the Cold War. Zellen’s work will become increasingly relevant as Arctic nations struggle over rights and resources and are forced to contend with new interests and the mobilization of new actors on the world stage. The circumpolar world is fast emerging as one of the most critical regions in international studies making Breaking the Ice timely and essential."
Nadine C. Fabbi, Associate Director, Canadian Studies Center, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington
"While not a specialist on Arctic issues, as a conflict-resolution scholar specializing in Australasia, I immensely enjoyed Breaking the Ice. It is an important, fascinating and thoughtful work, as well as a welcome contribution to the study of the nexus of land, indigenous people and conflict."
Alan Tidwell, Director, Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies, Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
"For those who know a piece of today’s Arctic story, Barry Zellen neatly connects the dots from Alaska to Greenland with a wealth of detail. His research and his experience living in the region come together here to buoy a generation of scholars, scientists and policy-makers."
Mike Peters, Editor, First Alaskans Magazine, Anchorage, Alaska
"This history of the Alaskan and Canadian arctic breaks new ground with its contemporary narration and analysis of the past three decades of political developments and with its rich findings based on documentary and Web research. ... This large account will guide future researchers and government agents. It is not about global warming or environmental change. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals."
Barry M. Gough, Professor Emeritus, Founding Director of Canadian Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, As reviewed in Choice, February 2009
"Zellen is the research director of the Arctic Security Project at the Program for Culture and Conflict Studies (CCS) at the Naval Postgraduate School, and has been a firsthand witness to many of the struggles Native Americans experience in maintaining control and sovereignty over lands in the Far North. In this volume, the author takes a contemporary perspective of this ongoing conflict, especially in the context of global security amid the strategies of world powers. Written for an audience interested in global politics and security, Breaking the Ice also addresses the subject of the climate change, and how nature can often force the hand of humanity in compelling ways."
Book News, Inc., Portland, OR, 2008
Order Here
Reviews
Media Coverage
Op-Eds and Analysis
According to Dick Hill, the first Mayor of Inuvik where Zellen resided in the early 1990s: “Zellen’s book is timely to understand modern northern dynamics. As the Arctic ice recedes and temperatures rise, there is a need to take action on any benefits and to reduce any adverse effects. His description of ‘sovereign duality’ for northerners to be citizens and meaningful participants is helpful. Zellen effectively describes the importance of subsistence and how it is intertwined with land claims and co-management systems. The whole world is affected with sustainable living and environmental preservation in the same way that northern Native people are concerned for their regions. Breaking the Ice is an important contribution to Arctic understanding and open knowledge.”
Edwin Kolausok, former Deputy Mayor of Inuvik and federal land claims negotiator, comments: “the history recorded by Zellen in this important book is very timely and relevant in our world today,” and that the Native “struggle to re-establish self-sufficiency and self-determination within the federation of Canada, via self-government and land claims, is eloquently explained by Zellen,” who “unfolds the intricate work that was done through land claims negotiations leading to the corporate structures and their co-management systems that ultimately will lead to self-governance, and continue to shape the ‘domestic tranquility’ of the Arctic.”
Dr. James Wirtz, Professor of National Security Affairs and Dean of the School of International Graduate Studies at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), has commented: “In this sweeping political and strategic history of the North American Arctic, Zellen provides us with a fascinating account of the struggle of Native Americans to regain some semblance of control over their lands. As global economic growth places a premium on securing new sources of energy resources and other raw materials, issues of sovereignty in the Far North will only grow in importance. Zellen provides the reader with the context needed to understand the ongoing international and domestic competition for control of the Arctic. This is a path-breaking study of an emergent issue in world politics.”
Professor Thomas Johnson, the Director of the Program for Culture and Conflict Studies at NPS has added: “Tribal-state relationships, border problems, militant insurgencies, economic exploitation/dependence and oil are the stuff of this fascinating book that is NOT about the Middle East. Barry Zellen has written a dense and meticulously researched book of the trials and tribulations of the Inuit of Canada and other indigenous peoples of Alaska, Northern Canada and the Arctic regions as they strive for sovereignty and confront and adapt to modernity and globalization. Zellen tells a story that has significant relevance to many of the present dilemmas facing the international political economic system. Zellen’s Breaking the Ice: From Land Claims to Tribal Sovereignty in the Arctic deserves broad readership.”
Now in its second printing, Breaking the Ice has generated additional praise from northern, indigenous and strategic studies scholars, including the following:
"Barry Scott Zellen’s work is seminal—he is the first to write about comparative Inuit governance across North America. Breaking the Ice fills a critical need in the history and literature of Arctic political movements. What has occurred in Inupiat and Inuit communities in Alaska and Canada, in little more than a generation, is nothing short of remarkable. Zellen documents the evolving self-determination efforts in incredible detail and with creative insight. He rightly identifies a new and influential 'voice' that has emerged on the international scene since the Cold War. Zellen’s work will become increasingly relevant as Arctic nations struggle over rights and resources and are forced to contend with new interests and the mobilization of new actors on the world stage. The circumpolar world is fast emerging as one of the most critical regions in international studies making Breaking the Ice timely and essential."
Nadine C. Fabbi, Associate Director, Canadian Studies Center, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington
"While not a specialist on Arctic issues, as a conflict-resolution scholar specializing in Australasia, I immensely enjoyed Breaking the Ice. It is an important, fascinating and thoughtful work, as well as a welcome contribution to the study of the nexus of land, indigenous people and conflict."
Alan Tidwell, Director, Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies, Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
"For those who know a piece of today’s Arctic story, Barry Zellen neatly connects the dots from Alaska to Greenland with a wealth of detail. His research and his experience living in the region come together here to buoy a generation of scholars, scientists and policy-makers."
Mike Peters, Editor, First Alaskans Magazine, Anchorage, Alaska
"This history of the Alaskan and Canadian arctic breaks new ground with its contemporary narration and analysis of the past three decades of political developments and with its rich findings based on documentary and Web research. ... This large account will guide future researchers and government agents. It is not about global warming or environmental change. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals."
Barry M. Gough, Professor Emeritus, Founding Director of Canadian Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, As reviewed in Choice, February 2009
"Zellen is the research director of the Arctic Security Project at the Program for Culture and Conflict Studies (CCS) at the Naval Postgraduate School, and has been a firsthand witness to many of the struggles Native Americans experience in maintaining control and sovereignty over lands in the Far North. In this volume, the author takes a contemporary perspective of this ongoing conflict, especially in the context of global security amid the strategies of world powers. Written for an audience interested in global politics and security, Breaking the Ice also addresses the subject of the climate change, and how nature can often force the hand of humanity in compelling ways."
Book News, Inc., Portland, OR, 2008
Order Here
Reviews
- Reviewed by Professor Barry M. Gough, Choice Reviews Online, February 2009. Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals.
Media Coverage
- "Breaking the Ice provides example for other cultures," by Kaitlynn Jackson, The Northern Light, October 14, 2008.
- "Climate change could warm Arctic economy," by Mike Peters, The Arctic Sounder, October 16, 2008
- "The Meltdown: Changes in the Arctic Climate Bring New Challenges," by Paul Abelsky, Russia Profile, June 01, 2007
- "Wayland Resident Shares Stories of the Arctic," by Amelia Andrade, Wayland Town Crier, May 1, 2008
Op-Eds and Analysis
- "Cold Front Rising: As Climate Change Thins Polar Ice, a New Race for Arctic Resources Begins," Strategic Insights, February 1, 2008
- "As Climate Change Melts Polar Ice, a New World Emerges," Alaska Report, April 20, 2008
- "The Upside of Climate Change," News North, May 1, 2008
- "On Thin Ice: As Climate Change Melts Polar Ice, a New World Emerges," The Ester Republic, May 1, 2008
- "We should warm to the idea of melting poles," The Globe and Mail, May 1, 2008
- "Toward a Post-Arctic World," Strategic Insights, January 1, 2009
Breaking the Ice
Reviews of Breaking the Ice
The esteemed scholar and world renown expert on the military history of the Pacific Northwest, Barry M. Gough, has reviewed Breaking the Ice in Choice Reviews Online. He wrote the following:
This history of the Alaskan and Canadian arctic breaks new ground with its contemporary narration and analysis of the past three decades of political developments and with its rich findings based on documentary and Web research. Not a work in comparative history, this is more of a parallel treatment of government actions in regard to the norths of the two countries and the responses of the indigenous peoples.
The impact of the US military in Alaska during WW II was powerful and left a legacy of federal government control. The roles of churches and missionaries is absent, but the Department of the Interior stamped its control on this northern frontier, especially when oil and gas exploration found pay dirt and means of transporting such energy resources became necessary.
The Canadian story has an economic basis too, but here the emphasis was on Native politicization, often inspired by Ottawa, to develop Native self-sufficiency and to solve the persistent problems of land claims by various First Nations, including Inuit, Inuvialuit, and Gwich'in. This large account will guide future researchers and government agents. It is not about global warming or environmental change.
Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals.
Click here to read entire review.
This history of the Alaskan and Canadian arctic breaks new ground with its contemporary narration and analysis of the past three decades of political developments and with its rich findings based on documentary and Web research. Not a work in comparative history, this is more of a parallel treatment of government actions in regard to the norths of the two countries and the responses of the indigenous peoples.
The impact of the US military in Alaska during WW II was powerful and left a legacy of federal government control. The roles of churches and missionaries is absent, but the Department of the Interior stamped its control on this northern frontier, especially when oil and gas exploration found pay dirt and means of transporting such energy resources became necessary.
The Canadian story has an economic basis too, but here the emphasis was on Native politicization, often inspired by Ottawa, to develop Native self-sufficiency and to solve the persistent problems of land claims by various First Nations, including Inuit, Inuvialuit, and Gwich'in. This large account will guide future researchers and government agents. It is not about global warming or environmental change.
Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals.
Click here to read entire review.
