Colleague Stephanie Irbacher-Fox from Yellowknife, NWT, Canada, sent around this call for papers for an interesting conference. Basically all topics relating to the wellbeing and viability of livelihoods in the North are welcome. They also invite contributions from the non-Canadian North. If somebody has money to go there, I’m sure it would be a rewarding experience.

The Northern Governance and Economy Conference Steering Committee invites
proposals for papers at the conference taking place October 10-12 in
Yellowknife, NT, Canada. The main conference sponsor is the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Proposals are due June 30, 2012.

The purpose of this interdisciplinary conference is to bring together
academics, community and business decision makers, and community members to
share information and create networks to spark new and original thinking
about social determinants of economic wellness and prosperity in Canada¹s
Northwest Territories, informed by comparative experiences in the
circumpolar North and among Indigenous peoples in North America. Social
determinants are conditions determining the wellness of communities:
educational attainment, strength of culture, effective governance
institutions, good health. Social determinants, and the state of communities
with respect to social issues have a significant impact on the economy.

Papers are invited which address the following topics:

– Indigenous economies and economic paradigms;
– Social determinants of economic opportunity and development;
– Factors for/economic successes in Indigenous communities;
– Partnerships between Northern and/or Indigenous communities and business;
– Political institutions and economic wellness;
– Capacity building for economic success;
– Colonization impacts: challenges and solutions;
– Resource extraction impacts and Indigenous peoples;
– Resource governance and social, cultural and economic wellness;
-Environmental and economic sustainability;
– Land claims, self government, and economic development.

Applicants should send a biography and abstract for consideration no later than
June 30, 2012. Paper abstracts should be up to 250 words in length,
submitted in .doc or .docx format to the Steering Committee at
NGEC2012@gmail.com. Final versions of papers must be provided to panel
chairs by October 01, 2012.

For more information please go to: http://ngec2012.com/call-for-papers/