Abstract
Since the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the southern continent has often been lauded as the last “unowned” space—an exemplary instance of international cooperation. However, the seven national claims made prior to this time still exist and, while legally nothing may be done to reinforce these claims as long as the Treaty is in place, both claimant and non-claimant states continue to assert their presence on the continent. With the extreme conditions preventing anything resembling normal settlement, and the Treaty forbidding explicit acts of sovereignty, this assertion of national presence is channelled into a variety of forms, many of them highly performative. Drawing on a wide range of examples, from naming rituals to the Japanese whaling controversy, a literary critic and a legal scholar together examine the distinct and evolving nature of the performance of sovereignty over the Antarctic ice.
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Notes
- 1.
Many have occurred in Antarctica, from the farces and pantomimes with which expedition members have ritually marked midwinter for over a century, to the outputs of contemporary artist residencies. A recent example, mentioned in this book’s Introduction, is Antarctica: The First Dance, created by a choreographer, a classical ballet dancer and a videographer who travelled to Antarctica with the New Zealand national program in early 2018. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_sq59Ajwv4.
- 2.
Antarctic Treaty (402 UNTS 71), Preamble.
- 3.
Government of Australia, Brief to Delegation, Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting V, Paris, 1968, p. 1.
- 4.
Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, Final Report of the Thirty-eighth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1–10 June 2015, Volume I, Paras 396–398, online at https://documents.ats.aq/ATCM38/fr/ATCM38_fr001_e.pdf.
- 5.
CCAMLR, Report of the Thirty-Fifth Meeting of the Commission, Hobart, Australia, 17–28 October 2016, Paras 12.5 and 12.6, online at https://www.ccamlr.org/en/system/files/e-cc-xxxv_2.pdf.
- 6.
Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, Final Report of the Fortieth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, Beijing, China, 22 May–1 June 2017, Volume I, Paras 430–432, online at https://documents.ats.aq/ATCM40/fr/ATCM40_fr001_e.pdf.
- 7.
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (30 ILM 1461, 1991), Annex II, Article 4.
- 8.
The word “actor” is used in several different ways in this article, depending on context: to indicate agency (human or non-human); to indicate an element of cultural performance; and to indicate a role in international relations. In this last sense, a state actor formally represents a government, and a non-state actor is an organization or person separate from a government who nonetheless attempts to influence global geopolitical relations. While all of these “actors” have distinct meanings, this article emphasizes occasions in which they overlap in an Antarctic context.
- 9.
The phrase “whale wars” comes from the title of a documentary following the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society protestors produced by Discovery Channel and aired in 2008.
- 10.
The International Whaling Commission had previously adopted a Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1994 at the same time the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea came into force, which facilitated Australia’s right to extend a 200 nautical mile EEZ to its Antarctic Territory. Under the rules of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, Japan is entitled to make a reservation to this Sanctuary, which it did, citing specifically that the Sanctuary should not apply to Minke whales (see https://iwc.int/sanctuaries).
- 11.
Section 225 of the EPBC Act applies. See Humane Society International Inc v Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd [2004] FCA 1510. For a commentary see Rothwell and Scott (2007, pp. 17–18).
- 12.
Humane Society International Inc v Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd [2005] FCA 3 [33].
- 13.
Outline of submissions of the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth as amicus curiae, NSD 1519 (2004), filed on behalf of the Attorney-General by Australian Government Solicitor, File ref: 04126020, para 17, 3, available at http://www.envlaw.com.au and follow the links to “Case Studies,” “Whaling case, Motion for leave to serve.”
- 14.
Humane Society International Inc v Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd [2008] FCA 3.
- 15.
Peace, among others, notes that culturally and linguistically, the Japanese class the whale as a fish, with “none of the aura which nowadays surrounds mammals in the West” (2010, p. 7). Japanese state actors, however, noted the Western hypocrisy of enshrining whales while systematically slaughtering other mammals such as cows (see e.g. “Whale Hunting” 2009).
- 16.
Beagle Channel Arbitration (Argentina v. Chile) (1977) 52 ILR 93.
- 17.
- 18.
The nationality of tourists themselves is a pertinent point here: the rise of a Chinese Antarctic tourist market is often remarked in Western media, even while English-speaking nations continue to dominate the clientele.
- 19.
“Polies” incorporate it into their own less formal rituals, such as the “Three Hundred Degree Club,” which requires initiates to run naked from a 200° F sauna onto the ice, ideally around the Ceremonial Pole and back, on a day when the temperature dips to −100° F.
- 20.
PDD/NSC-26, “U.S. Antarctic Policy,” available at www.fas.org.
- 21.
Similar, although perhaps less obvious, arguments may be made about other stations, with location and the built environment both potentially significant to national identity and sovereignty claims.
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Leane, E., Jabour, J. (2020). Performing Sovereignty over an Ice Continent. In: Philpott, C., Leane, E., Delbridge, M. (eds) Performing Ice. Performing Landscapes. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47388-4_8
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