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Tropical Polar Bears: A Story of Competing Colonialisms in the Great Acceleration

Event Type
Lecture
Sponsor
Center for Advanced Study (CAS)
Location
Levis Faculty Center, Rm 210
Date
Oct 31, 2025   3:00 pm  
Contact
Masumi Iriye
E-Mail
iriye@illinois.edu
Views
15
Originating Calendar
Campus Humanities Calendar

In 1978, the tropical city-state of Singapore received three polar bears, starting a dynasty of polar bears that ended in 2018. Within the lifespan of these tropical polar bears, the planet has undergone rapid and exponential growth in economies, human populations, agricultural intensification, deforestation, and the burning and consuming of carbon and chemicals--all indelibly changing every surface of the globe. How might the life histories of polar bears narrate the story of twentieth and twenty-first century competing colonialisms in the Great Acceleration? This paper is based on ongoing archival and ethnographic research in Singapore, Canada, and the US.

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