“The Earth is Faster Now” Arctic Indigeneity and the Timescales of Climate Change with Hester Blum (Penn State)

This talk discusses the timescales of ice and of Indigenous knowledge in the Arctic. Human time on Earth is often measured by the resources consumed in a given age (think of the Stone or Iron Ages, the Petroleum or Atomic Ages). Within the sweep of deep ecological time, however, Ice Ages or periods of climate variability have not been keyed to human resource extraction—until now. Drawing on Inuit autobiography, Blum considers ice not just as a symbol for the timescales of the Anthropocene, but also as a recording medium.

Sponsored by the English Department and Center for 21st Century Studies

Fee and open to the public.