Dr. Danita Burke is the recipient of the Joan Mitchell Travel Award
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Dr. Danita Burke is the recipient of the 2023 Joan Mitchell Travel Award. Dr. Burke is a Research Fellow at the University of Southern Denmark and the founder of Women in the Arctic and Antarctic. Dr. Burke was awarded the Joan Mitchell Travel Award in 2023, but her visit to the archives was deferred to 2025 due to extenuating circumstances.
Dr. Burke explored the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee fonds during her time at Laurier Archives and Special Collections. Her focus was on five themes linked to her research agenda: anti-sealing and anti-harvesting activism; traditional knowledge; definitions of subsistence, personal use, and commercial use of renewable resources; formation of the Arctic Council; and Canadian Arctic sovereignty. Dr. Burke investigated the impact of activism in the Arctic, including Greenpeace: “While my analysis of the materials accessed is in progress, my initial review of files accessed reveal interesting insights relevant to my research on Greenpeace and the legacy of anti-sealing/anti-harvesting/anti-trapping campaigning on Northern Canadian communities and peoples. For example, in looking at the files on the Indigenous Survival International (ISI) interesting information on their efforts to engage Greenpeace and encourage the organisation to stop its anti-sealing activism is available.”
Information and analysis gleamed from her work with the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee’s records will support various research outputs, including books, journal articles, reports, websites, and project updates: “Access to the files in the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee fonds will advance my research agenda by contributing to the completion of my research on Greenpeace’s legacy in the Circumpolar North book, as well as a new research project I am the principal investigator for supported by the Nordic Council in Greenland's Nordic Arctic Programme.”
Dr. Burke completed her work with the support of the Laurier Archives and Special Collection team: “Special thank you to the archivists/employees at the Laurier Archives and Special Collections for helping me prepare for my visit and aiding me while I was in the reading room. The trip would not have been as smooth and efficient without all your preparation and help.”
Please visit the Laurier Archives and Special Collections webpage for more information about the Joan Mitchell Travel Award.