The question of reconstructing the conceptual frameworks for research in Asia and Asian Diaspora has been actively debated in the last few decades. These discussions pay critical attention to the modern politics of constructing Asian spaces and identities, and of disseminating knowledge of the area throughout the world.

Taking up this challenge, this conference will explore how our own work can better contribute to this understanding, and point out the misunderstandings of the categories, spaces and frameworks constructed as part of Asian Studies within and beyond the territorial limits of 鈥淎sia.鈥�

The conference keynote speaker will be Professor Vinay Gidwani of the Department of Geography and Institute of Global Studies, University of Minnesota.

The organizing committee welcomes graduate research with interdisciplinary approaches. For a complete list of topics, visit the conference website.

Interested participants should submit a paper title, abstract with keywords (250 words maximum), along with brief biographical information (name, affiliation, stage of graduate study) by Dec. 1 to YCARreconstructions2013@gmail.com.

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The conference will take place Friday, Oct. 15 and Saturday, Oct. 16, from 8:30am to 5:30pm in the 91亚色 Research Tower, Keele campus. It is presented by 91亚色鈥檚 Work & Labour Studies Program, the 91亚色 Centre for Research on Work & Society, Ryerson University and the Labour College of Canada.

This interdisciplinary, two-day conference will include research on contemporary issues, papers that place these subjects in historical perspective, and thematic panels and workshops on teaching and researching in the field of labour studies.

This is the fourth year for the conference 鈥� the first聽in Toronto 鈥� where junior scholars in the field present their work and meet other emerging voices in labour studies, as well as interact with more senior scholars who serve as commentators on the panels.

鈥淭his conference showcases the labour studies community鈥檚 continuing vibrancy and impressive national reach,鈥� says Professor Stephanie Ross, coordinator of 91亚色鈥檚 Work & Labour Studies Program. 鈥淎cross Canada, labour studies attract researchers who combine rigorous cutting edge scholarship with a capacity to speak to the real and pressing challenges we face in our working lives. Anyone with an interest in how to make work and the economy more socially just will take a lot from this conference.鈥�

The conference is sponsored at 91亚色 by the Office of the Dean in the聽Faculty of聽Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought, and the Department of Geography, and at Ryerson by the Department of History, the Dean鈥檚 Office in the Faculty of Arts, the Office of the Vice-President of Research & Innovation, and the Centre for Labour-Management Relations. In addition, the Canadian Labour Congress鈥檚 Labour College of Canada has also provided much-appreciated support.

For more information, visit the Centre for Research on Work & Society or contact Stephanie聽Ross at stephr@yorku.ca.

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, a collection of over 50 poems, will launch Tuesday, October 19, at 7:30 pm, at The Boat, 158 Augusta Ave. in Toronto鈥檚 Kensington Market. It is also the 10th anniversary launch party for Mansfield Press. All royalties from the sale of聽Uppal's book will go to help support athletes through , which helped fund about 80 per cent of the athletes at the Games.

The book contains haikus and other poems about the Olympic athletes and their beloved sports 鈥� whether curling, skeleton, skiing or hockey 鈥撀燼nd includes some poems Uppal wrote when she took in the Arctic Games, in between the Olympics and the Paralympics. It鈥檚 being hailed as a mingling of physical and verbal acrobatics and a dazzling competition of risky play, inventive movements and daring heights.

Left: Priscila Uppal embracing the Olympic torch as the Canadian Athletes Now Fund poet-in-residence. Photo by Chistopher Doda

鈥淪o much about poetry is having surprising language and using it in unique ways,鈥� says (BA Hons. 鈥�97, PhD 鈥�04).聽 Watching Olympic athletes compete and marvelling over the strange terms attached to each sport 鈥� what Uppal calls athletic language full of metaphors and symbols 鈥撀爂ave her plenty of inspiration.

She聽says the poems are accessible and amusing, and were also fun to write. Winter Sport: Poems would be of interest to sports lovers, Olympics lovers, poetry lovers, 补苍诲听English and physical education teachers, as well as young reluctant readers, she says. CBC Radio featured many of her poems over the course of the Games after fans called in requesting more, as did CAN Fund and the athletes themselves.

"While some people were skeptical about elite athletes responding to poetry," Uppal admits, "the Olympians ended up being one of my most welcoming audiences ever. Every day they asked for more copies of poems and looked forward to the performances. The summer Olympians have encouraged me to take up my post in 2012 in London to write the companion volume, Summer Sport: Poems."

Right: Priscila Uppal dons her own team shirt while watching speedskating at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. Photo by Chistopher Doda

Gil Adamson, author of The Outlander and Ashland, says 鈥淔rom one of Canada鈥檚 most dynamic poets come sports poems that are playful, funny, and full of trick moves. Uppal鈥檚 wordplay is as muscular as the athletes she celebrates.鈥�

In addition to Uppal鈥檚 new book, the evening will launch Imagining Toronto by Amy Lavender Harris, a 91亚色 geography faculty member in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies; Goodbye, Ukulele by Leigh Nash (BA Hons. 鈥�04), a former student of Uppal鈥檚; At the Gates of the Theme Park by Peter Norman; and Stray Dog Embassy by Natasha Nuhanovic.

Left: Priscila Uppal has a Canadian moment. Photo by Chistopher Doda

Uppal's books include which , (which was shortlisted for the $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prize), and , and of the novels and . She is the editor of 补苍诲听 and the author of .

For more information or to order the book, visit the or websites.

To read a few of Uppal鈥檚 sports poems, visit the website.

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For Swannie Chan, a fourth-year geography student who really wanted field experience, the choice was clear: 鈥淒o I want to go to Hawaii or Black Creek Village? It was a no brainer.鈥�

In mid-August, Chan,聽Zoe Davis, a聽fourth-year environmental science student,聽and 16 other 91亚色 undergraduates packed their swimming suits and hiking boots and flew to Honolulu then on to Maui. For the next eight days, they went all over the island on excursions led by geography Professors Kathy Young and Peter Vandergeest, and graduate assistant Jane Assini.

Left: Zoe Davis collecting data on the Maui coast. Photo by Dawn Ho.

Blue skies, brilliant stars and tropical heat tempered by gentle ocean breezes made for an idyllic visit 鈥� perfect for doing the research they鈥檇 come to do. For undergraduates used to textbook learning and case studies, this experience was like reality TV. 鈥淚 thought it would be like 鈥淟ost鈥�,鈥� said Chan. Maui residents Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson eluded them, but they came home three credits richer, $3,000 poorer, keener than ever and a little聽changed.

For geographers, the appeal of Maui is its diverse topography. Less urbanized than Oahu but still a magnet for celebrities drawn to its sand and surf, the island features everything from desert to tropical rainforest, and volcanoes to vast beaches. On one coast, giant waves draw the world鈥檚 most fanatic surfers, on the other, coral reefs lure snorkellers to an underwater paradise. There is ample evidence of climate change 鈥� a rising sea and persistent drought聽鈥� and tourism has affected the island鈥檚 culture and environment.

What a motherlode of research聽possibilities. The human geographers, like Chan, could study the effect of tourism on the culture. The physical geographers, like聽Davis (she's in the physical stream of聽environmental science), could analyze聽data they collected on聽beach erosion, air temperature, water quality and quantity, and wind energy.

Based in South Kihei on the southwest coast, the students piled into three vans for daily excursions and field trips to all corners of the island.

Right: Sunrise above the clouds on Mount Haleakala. Photo by Kathy Young.

鈥淚 put my research cap on when I left and actually liked doing the trip as a geographer,鈥� said Chan, who鈥檚 travelled the world as a tourist.

The students studied beach erosion on the north and west shores, and learned about volcanoes and lava flows on a trip to Mount Haleakala, one of two volcanoes on Maui. Kathy Young woke them at 2am one morning for a bike excursion up the volcano. Along the way, they measured temperature, and wind and water quality, surfacing above the clouds in time to see the sun rise. They endured hours over rough roads to remote Hana and Lahaina to visit tropical rain forest and desert, and enjoyed a traditional luau celebration. They tasted medicinal plants in botanical gardens, saw sugar cane plantations, visited a taro farm and took an ecotour snorkelling around coral reef. 鈥淭he water was so clear, I felt like I was watching TV,鈥� said Chan. 鈥淚t was one of the highlights of the trip.鈥�

Rangers took them into Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve, 90 per cent of which is off limits to the public. This fact inspired Chan鈥檚 project聽鈥� a survey of people in nearby Wailea about their knowledge of and opinion of restricted access to the reserve, a sacred Hawaiian heritage site bordering a pristine coral reef.

Davis, on the other hand, was investigating the mitigating influence of coral reefs on beach erosion and, by extension, the potential of rock walls to prevent聽this erosion. 鈥淚t was such an amazing opportunity to be in the field on site designing my own project, analyzing my own data. There is nothing like doing your own work. You never get this experience in the classroom.鈥�

Left: Swannie Chan interviews Ranger Joe.

For聽an environmental science student such as Davis, 鈥渢his trip was a test to see if I could love research and hack it in the field.鈥澛燗fter a three-and-a-half-hour trek 3,000 metres up the side of a cinder cone, getting up at 2am to see sunrise from the top of a volcano, and lugging heavy equipment then improvising when it broke, she thinks she could.

Each student had to do an individual project and a group project. 鈥淲e got a taste of so many different kinds of research,鈥� said Davis. 鈥淚t can change your career. I realized if you work hard you can do some amazing things. It changed my trajectory, but not my direction.鈥� Now she鈥檚 dreaming of doing research in the Arctic.

鈥淭he trip was once in a lifetime,鈥� says Chan, who is majoring in geography and finishing an education degree at the same time. She intends to stick to her plans to teach primary or junior school.聽The Scarborough resident tried passionfruit and guava for the first time, was amazed at the brilliant night sky and loved spending every day outside. 鈥淏eing able to experience nature like I did in Hawaii is something I want to take into the classroom.鈥�

鈥淗awaii was a really cool trip,鈥� says Young. 鈥淚 learned so much and I think the kids were all really energized by it.鈥�

Right: Sliding Sand Trail, Mount Haleakala. Photo by Kathy Young.

The advanced field course in physical geography is brand new. It was funded with $15,000 from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. If Young can get more funding, next year she hopes to聽take geography students to聽another, though less balmy,聽volcanic isl补苍诲听鈥� Iceland.

By Martha Tancock, YFile contributing writer.

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Research grants cover most of these expenses, but聽the geography graduate student聽welcomes the $15,000 she won as this year鈥檚 master鈥檚-level recipient of the Garfield Weston Award for Northern Research. The money聽will聽help cover her tuition fees, books and living expenses. "It was definitely nice to get it."

The award is one of many scholarships presented by the Canadian Northern Studies Trust on behalf of the .

Right: Liz Miller on a dig

Miller is the second 91亚色 geography graduate student to win it in two years. Last year, Anna Abnizova (BSc Spec. Hons. '05, MSc '07) was the doctoral-level recipient.

Both students are researching northern wetlands under the supervision of Arctic hydrologist Kathy Young, a geography professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Last week, Miller returned to Toronto after three months studying the water flow of two hill streams that drain into the Polar Bear Pass wetland. It was her third trip to the North, her first to conduct her own research.

In the summer of 2009, Abnizova聽chose her as a field assistant to measure water levels, surface area and carbon fluxes聽in wetland ponds fed by snowmelt in this protected wildlife sanctuary.

Left: Liz Miller out 'fishing'

Their research adds to a growing understanding of the effect of climate change on the North. Polar Bear Pass is an oasis of vegetation in the middle of a polar desert. Its plant life nourishes insects, migratory birds and mammals, from lemming and fox to muskox and caribou, not to mention the polar bears that migrate through this protected wildlife area. That plant life depends on the sustainability of the wetland ponds, on the snowmelt and water flow.

Miller鈥檚 love of nature began as a child growing up in rural New Brunswick. She helped her father garden and went on camping and hiking trips across Canada with her parents. Unsure what to study after high school in Toronto, she enrolled at 91亚色 because the Environmental Science Program offered such variety. She could take biology, geography, ecology and conservation and learn about everything from soils and hydrology to plants and animals. Her first taste of the Arctic came after third year when she helped Professor Rick Bello measure carbon release from peatlands in Churchill, Manitoba.

But, until Abnizova invited her to be a field assistant last year, Miller never imagined returning to the Arctic. For three years after earning a bachelor of science in 2006, she had hopped from one government contract to another. She still hasn鈥檛 narrowed her interest to a single field, but can boast a wealth of experience in conservation聽鈥� assessing wetlands, mapping endangered-plant sites, doing surveys of red-shouldered hawks and forest inventories, evaluating the health of streams, restoring wetlands and planting trees.

Right: Rifle-totaing Liz Miller takes no chances in Polar Bear Pass

This week, Miller climbed aboard yet another plane to see Europe for the first time. In three weeks, she鈥檒l return to finish her master鈥檚 degree and then decide whether to do a doctorate.

After witnessing the wildlife聽鈥� caribou in particular 鈥� in Polar Bear Pass, she may branch into a broader investigation of the relationship between聽physical geography (land and water)聽and the biological community. 鈥淚 like figuring out why plants grow where they grow and animals are where they are.鈥�

By Martha Tancock, YFile contributing writer

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Vanessa Lamb (right), a second-year doctoral candidate in geography, is the 2010 Vivienne Poy Asian Research Award recipient. Her research interests include the politics of the environment and development, feminist political ecology and critical science studies.

Lamb received her master's degree from the University of Wisconsin, where she researched and studied the interdisciplinary understandings of conservation. Prior to attending 91亚色, she worked for the Bangkok-based organization TERRA, a regional non-governmental organization (NGO) that works on environmental issues within the Mekong Region. As a doctoral student she has worked as part of the Challenges of Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia project team.

The award funds will assist Lamb in her dissertation fieldwork during the 2010-2011 academic year. Her research looks at knowledge-making and claim-making practices around resources of the Nu-Salween River, which supports an estimated six million people in China, Burma and Thailand as a source of livelihood and food. She will conduct interviews with local residents, activists, engineers and others connected to a large hydroelectric development project along the river at the Thai-Burma border. Specifically, her research will consider how different knowledges produced about the river interact and influence decision-making processes around development.

The award is named for Canadian Senator Vivienne Poy. It assists a graduate student in fulfilling the fieldwork requirement for the Graduate Diploma in Asian Studies.

Ei Phyu Han (left) and Rae Mitchell are the 2010 YCAR Language Award recipients. Han, a doctoral candidate in geography, will study Thai, while Mitchell, a master's candidate in social聽& political thought, will use the funding to study Hindi in anticipation of her 2010 fieldwork in India.

Han is examining gender identity formation of Karen refugees from Burma along the Thai-Burma border to learn how it is influenced by different actors and power groups at multiple sites of displacement.聽Her research aims to demonstrate how identity is influenced by place and therefore shifts during the process of being displaced because it is continually being renegotiated. This research has the potential to help improve resettlement programs, and she hopes it can play a role in future Canadian refugee policy changes.

"Although I am now a Canadian citizen, I migrated to Canada at the age of six from Burma with my family in the aftermath of the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations in 1988," says Han. "I believe that this project is important not only for the ways that it can influence policy and resettlement program changes, and its engagement and contribution to academic knowledge, but also because it is integral to learning more about the growing humanitarian crisis in Burma."

She completed her coursework and set the foundations for her fieldwork in the summer of 2009 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, by making contacts with NGOs and by taking Thai language courses. The YCAR Language Award will assist in the continuation of these studies. She will begin her fieldwork this month working with the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, Women's Education for Advancement & Employment and the Karen Youth Organization.

Right: Rae Mitchell

Mitchell's research interests include resistance, social movement theory, engaged Buddhism and social anarchism. Her current research focuses on Gandhian perspectives of the body, including the methods utilized by Gandhi to transform his body (and self) from British subject into revolutionary satyagrahi. She's also interested in the ways that Gandhian approaches to social and political transformation are being adapted and utilized by female members of the Mahila Shanti Sena (Women's Peace Force) in Northern India.

She will complete a four-week intensive Hindi language-training course at the Jaipur School of Hindi in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The school is run in affiliation with Shashvat Sansthan, a local NGO working for the welfare of Rajasthan鈥檚 tribal-indigenous communities. Mitchell will also be travelling with University of Toronto Professor Reva Joshee and Jill Carr-Harris, a development worker in India, throughout central India for three weeks in October to explore possible research collaboration on Ekta Parishad's struggle for land and forest rights for marginalized and indigenous peoples in India.

Mitchell holds a combined聽bachelor of arts (BA)聽in peace studies and anthropology with a minor in religious studies from McMaster University.

The YCAR Language Award was created to support graduate students in fulfilling the language requirement for the Graduate Diploma in Asian Studies and to facilitate awardees master's or doctoral-level research.

Ferdinand Dionisio Caballero (left), a master's candidate in social anthropology, is this year's recipient of the David Wurfel Award. The award will aid him in his fall archival fieldwork in the Philippines where he will focus on the entangled relations between the Catholic Church and the Filipino people.

The David Wurfel Award provides financial support to an honours undergraduate or master's graduate student who intends to conduct thesis research on the topic of Filipino history, culture or society.

Caballero's major research paper will be an anthropological inquiry on religion, colonial subjects, post-colonialism and history. More specifically, he is interested in exploring and understanding the dynamics of power relations between religious institutions and the people.

He holds a BA in anthropology with a specialization in ethnographic studies from Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta.

The award was established in 2006 by Senior YCAR Research Associate David Wurfel. He wanted to contribute to the emergence of a new generation of Filipino leadership that is grounded in the country鈥檚 history, culture and public affairs. Wurfel is a Philippine specialist who received his PhD from Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program.

Heather Barnick (right) is the 2010 recipient of the Albert C.W. Chan Foundation Fellowship. A doctoral candidate in the Department of Social Anthropology at 91亚色, her current research interests are related to the anthropology of media, digital anthropology, and techno-science with a specific focus on the visual and material cultures of video games and massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

Last month, Barnick began ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai, China, following the ways in which online role-playing games have become significant sites for the formations of new national and cultural imaginaries in mainland China. Her fieldwork is supported by the Albert C.W. Chan Fellowship and a Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada doctoral scholarship.

This research follows on the heels of a project initiated by China鈥檚 General Administration of Press & Publication (GAPP) to encourage the production of 100 domestically produced MMORPGs. The narratives and imagery integrated into games developed under GAPP鈥檚 initiative frequently make use of famous fictional stories, such as the Journey to the West, and historical battles, such as Genghis Khan鈥檚 exploits and the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Focusing on the perspectives of youth from Shanghai, Barnick鈥檚 research will examine how these adapted histories come to have new meanings for life in the present. The primary goal is to understand how notions of national and cultural belongings and identities are continuously formed, expressed and re-imagined by Shanghai youth through their participation in MMORPGs produced in China.

Barnick earned a BA in sociology and anthropology from the University of Prince Edward Island and a MA in social and cultural anthropology from Concordia University.

The Albert C.W. Chan Foundation Fellowship was established by the Albert C.W. Chan Foundation to encourage and assist 91亚色 graduate students to conduct field research in East and/or Southeast Asia and was made possible through the聽support of the Albert C. W. Chan family.

Adnan Amin (left) was selected from a strong group of graduate and undergraduate applicants to represent 91亚色 at the Global Initiatives Symposium in Taipei next month. This opportunity is provided by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Amin's winning essay, 鈥淲hen East Meets West: A Personal Essay on Intersections of North American and East Asian Education鈥�, reflected on his experiences as an English as a second language (ESL) teacher in Taiwan.

Last year, Amin graduated from 91亚色 with an honours double major degree in English and history, completed his concurrent bachelor of education degree, and held a position as student senator for the Faculty of Education Students' Association. Amin has also held an international internship in the English Department of the Hong Kong Institute of Education and taught ESL in Taiwan. He is currently pursing his master of education degree at 91亚色.

Amin's research interests are in teaching and learning strategies, immigrant experiences, English language learning and digital media technology. He currently works as a school settlement worker in Toronto high schools where he helps newcomer students and families with settlement needs.

The Global Initiatives Symposium will be held at the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, from July 12 to 16.聽It will bring together emergent leaders from around the world to discuss critical global issues. The topic for 2010 is The Emergence of New Giants: Evolution or Revolution. Participants will also take part in several days of cultural tours in Taiwan following the symposium.

Amin鈥檚 opportunity to represent 91亚色 at the symposium was made possible by the Taipei Economic聽& Cultural Office and the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

For more information on any of the awards, visit the YCAR Web site.

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鈥淚t is based on a lot of experience and a lot of existing work but it also is quite innovative in the way it puts together the suburban research worldwide,鈥� said Keil.

The researchers have been granted $2.5 million from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, which is one of the largest study grants given by the research council.

The project is believed to be the first of this magnitude, one that 鈥渟ystematically takes stock of worldwide suburban developments while analyzing their governance models, land use, infrastructure and suburban everyday life.鈥�

The project objective is not only to document suburban patterns but to also examine the environmental and economical effects and emerging issues related to growth beyond the city limits.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more than a project, it鈥檚 an initiative,鈥� Keil said. 鈥淓verybody thinks they know their suburbs鈥e would like to break that mould and open the view up to a more global view of the suburbs so that we can find common denominators of very different kinds of peripheral urban development.鈥�

The complete article is available on to subscribers.

Keil and 91亚色 Professor Douglas Young also published an article on "" on NewGeography.com on April 17:

The socio-spatial landscape of what we call the 鈥渋n-between city鈥�, includes that part of the urban region that is perceived as not quite traditional city and not quite traditional suburb. This landscape represents a remarkable new urban form where a large part of metropolitan populations live, work and play. While much attention has been focused on the winning economic clusters of the world economy and the devastated industrial structures of the loser regions, little light has been shed on the urban zones in-between.

We view this new landscape with a particular view towards urban Canada. Applying these concepts to a North American city, Toronto, Canada, we look specifically at the 85 square kilometres around 91亚色, an area that straddles the line between the traditional suburb and the inner city.

The full post, which features photos of 91亚色's campus, is available on .

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A new book co-edited by 91亚色 Professors Norene Pupo and Mark Thomas will receive its official launch Thursday, March 25 at a special reception from 3 to 5pm in 626 91亚色 Research Tower.

is a collection of original essays investigating the social, political and economic transformations associated with the emergence of the so-called new economy, and their impact on the organization of work within Canada.

The essays discuss the ways in which new management strategies, new communication technologies and efforts to revitalize the labour movement have transformed the Canadian workplace. Focusing on changes in work organization, individuals鈥� expectations regarding work and the institutional support provided for workers and their families, the text constructs a critical analysis of the "new economy" in order to identify both the potential for quality work experiences and the ways in which the organization of work remains a profound social problem.

Based on years of participatory research, sector-specific studies, and quantitative and qualitative data collection, the work accounts for the ways in which the contemporary workplace has changed, but also the extent to which older forms of work organization still remain.

The collection begins with an overview of the key social and economic transformations that define the new economy. It then illustrates these transformations through examples, including essays on call centre service work and migrant workers. It also addresses unions and their responses to the restructuring of work, as well as other forms of resistance.

Pupo is the director of the Centre for Research on Work聽& Society at 91亚色 and a sociology professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). She is the co-author of .

Thomas is also a聽professor of sociology in LA& PS at 91亚色. He is the author of .

The event will include a panel of speakers discussing some of the book's themes. Participating on the panel are:聽91亚色 political science Professor Greg Albo; 91亚色 geography Professor Steve Tufts; Ryerson sociology Professor Andie Noack; 91亚色 social science and women鈥檚 studies Professor Linda Briskin; Naveen Mehta, director of human rights, equity聽& diversity for the United Food and Commercial Workers; Angelo DiCaro, national communications representative for the Canadian Auto Workers union; Ryerson sociology Professor Alan Sears; and Jorge Garcia-Orgales, a researcher with the聽United Steelworkers Canadian office.

For more information about the launch, contact Robin Smith, administrator at the聽Centre for Research on Work聽& Society, at 416-736-5612.

The launch of Interrogating the New Economy: Restructuring Work in the 21st Century is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Press and the following 91亚色 programs and units:聽the Centre for Research on Work & Society, the Department of Sociology, the Graduate Program in Sociology, Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought, Graduate Program in Women鈥檚 Studies, the Labour Studies Program, Gender & Work Database, Centre for Feminist Research and the 91亚色 Staff Association.

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On Aug. 12, Kathy Young led 69 Arctic hydrologists, oceanographers and observers聽from every circumpolar nation on an expedition to Baffin Island. As chief delegate of the , the Arctic hydrologist and 91亚色 geography professor had been planning this seven-day conference聽on 's Lyubov Orlova for two years. In this second of two instalments聽about the expedition, 91亚色 communications officer Martha Tancock and professional photographer document excursions to spectacular Pangnirtung Fiord, a聽wilderness park, and an island teeming with thick-billed murres and prowled by聽belligerent polar bears.

Day 4 鈥� Fiords and flowers
Saturday, Aug. 15

Jason鈥檚 wake-up brought good news: The Lyubov Orlova was proceeding up Pangnirtung Fiord (above) on schedule, we were 20 miles below the Arctic Circle, the sky was clear and sunny, 补苍诲听the temperature was 11掳C聽 鈥� ideal for a hike near Auyuittuq National Park.

Steep rocky mountain slopes delivered surprises as we cruised up聽the spectacular and ancient Pangnirtung Fiord 鈥� patches of purple Arctic fireweed, a frothy waterfall, a solitary cabin at its foot. Snowcapped mountains patched with glaciers glistened under an intense blue sky in the distance.

We divided into three groups: the fast walkers, who sprinted as far and as high as they could behind restless adventurer Benoit Savard then tore back down to shore, where some stripped to their underwear and leapt like Finns out of a sauna into the frigid fiord; the hikers, who strode behind ornithologist and 91亚色 grad Elizabeth Gow (BSc Hons. 鈥�07, MSc 鈥�09) into the middle distance; and the 鈥減lant鈥� walkers like me who poked around the meadow close to shore with Arctic botanist Susan Aiken (left). (Photo by Martha Tancock.)

What riches she revealed. She鈥檇 never seen a grass meadow in the Arctic before, only sedge meadows. Here she identified silky Arctic sweetgrass, which doesn鈥檛 have a scent like its sister in the south. Except for the spiky aromatic Labrador tea, which was everywhere, Arctic flowers don鈥檛 waste their precious energy on producing scents. At our feet, in spongy hummocks and around rock outcrops, we found and tasted mushrooms, crowberries and blueberries. Our guide yelped when she spotted vistortia, a sort of Arctic peanut. She showed us how Inuit women roll wicks from cotton grass and use heather for bedding. We saw caribou scat and lemming holes, raven feathers and a finch-like pippet. When some of us ventured further up the slope 鈥� keeping within eyesight of rifle-bearing sentinels 鈥� she warned us to watch out for polar bears that sometimes sleep in the cool crannies between hills. This sedgey place, though, is more home to caribou and muskoxen.

Instead of the promised wilderness picnic, we enjoyed a barbecue on deck, warmed by the聽noonday sun.

Evening documentaries about Arctic and Antarctic expeditions topped an afternoon of papers on modelling hydrological variables and climate change. Research scientists and 鈥渆xplorers鈥� Glen Liston and Mathew Sturm and two others marked International Polar Year (IPY) by snowmobiling 4,200 kilometres across Arctic Canada. For seven weeks in March and April, they followed rivers and crossed barrens and lakes to place themselves 鈥渟quarely and firmly in the nexuses that changed the Arctic.鈥� That included retracing part of 19th-century British explorer John Franklin鈥檚 ill-fated first expedition to chart the north coast of Canada.

Left: An iceberg close to Monumental Island

The second film documented Liston and other American and Norwegian scientists on an IPY overland scientific expedition to the South Pole in 2007-2008. Along the way, Liston drilled 90 feet to get 2,000-year-old ice core samples. He was also the one who descended into a hut buried deep in the snow, unvisited since the Russians left it, chairs neatly stacked on tables, in the 1960s.

Day 5 鈥� A monumental challenge and a Monumental polar bear
Sunday, Aug. 16

Scientists sounded a collective alarm today. There is no doubt that climate change is wreaking havoc in the Arctic, but without more data and better modelling they cannot make accurate predictions or provide a big picture of the impact. The evidence is clear. As climate warms, Yukon rivers freeze later, river ice breaks up earlier and there are more ice jams. In Alaska, sparse data makes it difficult to predict the impact of increasing drought and fires on water supply needs, fish passage 补苍诲听tundra travel. Heavy rainfall and warmer temperatures聽are thawing permafrost and causing landslides and soil collapse, but current data can only give a local, not a regional, picture.

Above: Thick-billed murres circle high over the cliffs of Akpatok Island

Keynote speaker Larry Hinzman, director of the International Arctic聽Research Center聽in Fairbanks, Alaska, underscored their message at the end of the day. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got some huge challenges,鈥� he said. If we are to predict the environmental impact responsibly, he said, we have to start viewing the Arctic as a system and not focus solely on our own special areas. Work has already begun on developing a circumpolar modelling system that could be ready in 10 years.

Left: From left, geography Professor Kathy Young聽with two 91亚色聽graduate students, PhD candidate Anna Abnizova (centre), who helped organize the conference,聽and master's candidate Jane Assini (right), who acted as a conference observer

We expected to see a colony of walruses on an excursion to Monumental Island in the Davis Strait today. Not a sign of them 补苍诲听we soon discovered why. A polar bear was swimming along the shore, disguised as a whitecap. We pulled up close and fell silent as it climbed ashore, stopping to sniff the air above and gaze in our direction then stepping nimbly over uneven rocky shelves. It was a male, according to naturalist Elizabeth Gow, because the urine stains were under its belly, not down its back legs.

Homeward bound we skirted an iceberg and got close enough to touch. On this聽excursion, two groups lifted bergy bits found later in Hudson Hurricanes, the cocktail of the day, concocted by bar manager聽Canina Clifford (BA Hons. '07, MA '08).

Day 6 鈥� Task forces and titans
Monday, Aug. 17

We鈥檙e in luck. A calm sea and sunny weather make a trip possible to Akpatok Island in Ungava Bay. Akpa is Inuktitut for murre and there are millions nesting on the narrow ledges of the chiselled cliffs.

Right: Victor and vanquished on Akpatok Island

After final morning workshops where delegates proposed task forces on snow, precipitation and ungauged basins, conference business ended. By 1:30pm we were zooming toward the tan-coloured cliff walls shrouded in thick layers of white cloud 鈥� perfect camouflage, we discovered, for polar bears. But within minutes, we saw a mother and pup napping on the shore, then a male snacking on fallen eggs. As we motored further along the shore, a massive male ambled towards us, its front paws stained with blood. We rounded the point to see a fallen male with a deep gash on its forearm. We had just missed a clash of titans. We pitied the vanquished even more when Gow predicted his certain death. On the way back, we saw the victor cleaning his paws.

That evening, as the Lyubov Orlova chugged towards Kuujjuaq, Nunavik,聽our final destination, we dressed up for the captain鈥檚 dinner and toasted Kathy Young many times over for a job well done.

Above: Sunrise over Hudson Strait

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to give the group a tour of the Eastern Arctic while hosting its biennial conference. 91亚色 communications officer Martha Tancock and professional photographer

Day 1 鈥� Arrival in Iqaluit
Wednesday, Aug. 12

Montreal was so hot and humid the morning of our departure, that it was hard to imagine that in less than three hours, First Air would jet us into overcast, misty weather almost 20 degrees cooler. As the First Air jet lifted off from Trudeau Airport and climbed to 31,000 feet, we left聽behind a suburban landscape dotted with turquoise pools and flew up the middle of Quebec following sandy oxbow rivers into a聽roadless, lake-studded green and grey expanse of Canadian Shield.

Not long after sampling Arctic char, we landed in Iqaluit, 鈥減lace of many fish鈥� and capital of Nunavut. The modular airport tower was a beacon of orange against a grey sky. Two school buses took us to the local museum where Earle Baddaloo, Nunavut鈥檚 assistant deputy minister of environment, welcomed us and urged us to taste muskox burgers and visit the 鈥渧ery striking and very northern鈥� Legislative Assembly, which we did. Top of his mind was the European Union鈥檚 decision to ban seal. The people of Nunavut 鈥渁re not going to sit back and sulk鈥� but will search for alternative markets, he insisted. Also greeting us was Mary Ellen Thomas, executive director of the Nunavut聽Research Institute, which supports 150 social, natural and health science research projects in the north.

After CBC North interviewed 91亚色 geography Professor Kathy Young about the conference, we toured Nunavut's Legislative Assembly, an airy igloo-shaped chamber built of British Columbia pine and decorated聽with Inuit prints, weaving and carvings, including a mace fashioned from a narwhal tusk. Our tour guide was Sean茅 d鈥橝rgencourt (right), the first page from Nunavut to serve in Canada鈥檚 House of Commons.

The bumpy ride to the harbour took us past the聽dump, stacks of crushed cars and mounds of used tires 颅鈥� a sight common to聽communities perched on impenetrable permafrost. At the water, we pulled on raincoats for our first聽spurt聽in inflated rubber Zodiacs to the waiting Lyubov Orlova. The ship is named after the Marilyn Monroe of the early Russian screen. Lyubov is Russian for 鈥渓ove鈥� so we were sailing on the love boat聽out of聽Frobisher Bay.

Day 2 鈥� Icebergs
Thursday, Aug. 13

At 7:05am, the voice of Cruise North expedition leader Jason crackled across public announcement speakers in each cabin. He listed longitude and latitude coordinates, temperature and weather conditions. Breakfast would be served at 7:30. To port, he added, you will see icebergs. Sure enough, through my porthole I spotted a compact blue-veined berg, then another. Many of us clamoured聽on deck for a better view.

Conference delegates gathered for a packed agenda of聽presentations in the forward lounge.聽Mid-morning, while they聽heard about聽snow modelling and the challenges involved in measuring snow cover, depth and density, I聽visited the ship's bridge.聽Here taciturn Russian naval officers monitored radar, compasses and other wayfinding instruments to navigate safely through treacherous northern waters.聽After a while, one聽pointed over the bow. 鈥淚zeboorg,鈥� he said. Through聽impenetrable fog, a faint grey horizontal line slowly emerged, then聽defining edges and finally聽the entire聽monster. Despite being the size of Toronto's downtown core, it moved with聽enough speed to create a headwind that blew the snow off its saddleback.

Stealthy and fast, it was easy to imagine how it could take a captain by surprise in the middle of the north Atlantic at night.聽In fact, one delegate聽guessed it had calved from the Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland, the same one that spawned the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.

Meanwhile, the conference turned its focus on聽the effect of聽earlier ice breakups and later freeze-ups on Arctic lakes and rivers. The day was capped with聽a keynote talk by Robie Macdonald, research scientist at Fisheries聽& Oceans Canada's Institute of Ocean Sciences. Internationally recognized for his work on contaminant transport in oceans, he contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice-president Al Gore. Macdonald was invited to this conference to share an oceanographer鈥檚 perspective 鈥� a major goal of the conference 鈥� of what happens when freshwater聽runoff from land and melting sea ice聽interact with聽currents in the Pacific, Arctic聽and Atlantic oceans. Will the Arctic Sea become a seasonably open ocean?聽Yes.聽By 2013? He's not sure.聽(Read more in his International Polar Year聽.)

Day 3聽鈥� Bones to see and to pick
Friday, Aug. 14

In the Arctic we must be flexible, say our Cruise North hosts. An unexpected detour overnight meant the 5am trek to the Kekerten Island whaling station would be postponed to 11am. Without missing a beat, hydrologists and oceanographers gave scheduled talks on the rapid rate of sea-ice shrinkage, tracing the route of fresh meltwater from Greenland into the north Atlantic and changes in ice cover in the Baltic Sea.

At 10:30am, we donned rain gear and rubber boots, packed hiking boots and cameras, for an excursion to Kekerten, an abandoned whaling station. Before we could land, guides armed with rifles scouted the area for polar bears. All clear, we scurried ashore and followed聽boardwalks to historical plaques and skeletal remains of all sorts 鈥� a building, rusty vats, a whale鈥檚 giant skull and 100-year-old human bones scattered around聽their weathered wooden coffins. Off the beaten path, we bounced like moonwalkers across spongy tundra 鈥� a blanket of green moss, white and yellow lichen, and fluffy, white cotton grass聽鈥� and climbed craggy rocks coated in聽the black tripe de roche lichen that ill-fated 19th-century British explorer John Franklin's starving men ate and crawling with聽the witchy fingers of Arctic willow, to get a better view of a calm, misty Cumberland Sound.聽聽

Later, we visited Pangnirtung for a meeting between scientists and village elders, an anticipated highlight of the trip. In June 2008, the village declared a state of emergency after a flash flood knocked out two bridges and carved a channel through permafrost down to the bedrock. Through a translator, nine elders talked about this and other local signs of climate change聽鈥� glaciers disappearing in Cumberland Sound, high tides, moss washing into the sea. Scientists said permafrost is melting, glaciers are shrinking, sea ice is disappearing, water levels are rising, winds are changing and rivers are flooding around the circumpolar North. Both elders and scientists聽shared the opinion that聽we must all adapt to climate change.

Back on board Lyubov Orlova, the crew briefed us about the next day鈥檚 excursion聽鈥� a hike to Auyuittuq National Park in the stunning Pangnirtung Fiord (right). Read about it in YFile's聽next issue.

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