The Paradox of Svalbard

'In a rich and deeply textured account of the human communities that call Svalbard "home", Zdenka Sokolickova demonstrates how the logic of extraction intersects awkwardly with community, environment, geopolitics and sustainability. If Svalbard is a paradox then it will demand explicit recognition of the competing interests, pressures and wishes that make the archipelago and its communities such intriguing places to live, work and study.'

-- Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics Royal Holloway University of London

'Lucidly captures the dilemmas of maintaining community in the world's northernmost settlement, where climate change is particularly evident. Through fine-grained ethnography, this weaves together questions of belonging, labor, and inequality with the paradoxes of 'green growth'- initiatives and geopolitics. Highly recommended!'

-- Cecilie Vindal Odegaard, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen

'Sokolickova profoundly and poetically reveals Svalbard as a site of concentrated uncertainty: simultaneously microcosm and periphery, container for a range of peculiarly 21st century meanings, and home to a community unique in the world.'

-- Adam Grydehoj, Editor-in-Chief of 'Island Studies Journal'

'More than a tourist destination, Svalbard is a hotspot of geopolitics, climate change, transient migration and social inequalities. Engaging, rich and nuanced, this book gives voice to people whose stories are rarely told, and exposes the deep dilemmas facing this Arctic archipelago. This book is a must for anyone with an interest in Svalbard, and the challenges of a melting world. Ethnography at its best.'

-- Marianne E. Lien. Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo

'A rich introduction to Svalbard across temporalities, where the past is as present as the future. While located on the rim of the world, Sokolickova makes a strong case for why Svalbard offers insight into many and entangled 'burning' issues of modernity. A skilled storyteller, she tells us something important about our world ... balancing on paradoxes that are perhaps not as unique to Svalbard, as Svalbard makes them apparent.'

-- Annette Loef, Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute

'Makes the convincing case that Svalbard, despite being a sparsely populated area in the extreme north ... offers crucial lessons to the world'

-- 'Jacobin'