“Have You Been There?” Some Thoughts on (Not) Visiting Antarctica

“Antarctica just has this hero factor…”: Gendered barriers to Australian Antarctic research and remote fieldwork

“…Such attitudes minimize the contributions made by researchers who are either unable to (due to caring responsibilities or disability) or choose not to travel south (as a growing number are choosing to do because of climate change [36]). As in the extract below, visiting Antarctica continues to confer “a sense of legitimacy which the mere act of going there does not necessarily deserve” [37].…”

“Do you dive?”: Methodological considerations for engaging with “volume”

“…Conscious of my comparative lack of knowledge, I replied that I was “a very new one.” He responded by saying “well, still, you've been trained, you've been underwater. When people talk to you about this, that, or so forth, there won't be a word that you don't understand.” He later added, “you're a diver, you're trained, so you know what happens.” As a “diver,” it felt like I had been accepted and my presence there, as Howkins (, p. 218) experienced with the Antarctic, gained a legitimacy that it did “not necessarily deserve.”…”

“…Yet throughout the initial process of establishing contact with my research community, a question continually emerged that could not be answered by this “orthodox cannon of methods” (Spinney , p. 232). I was asked on numerous occasions, “do you dive?” Just as Adrian Howkins () experienced when writing about the history of Antarctica, the question of “Have you been there?” or in my case, “do you dive?” loomed large. As Howkins (, p. 51–515) illustrates, these questions are not insignificant.…”

“…I was asked on numerous occasions, “do you dive?” Just as Adrian Howkins () experienced when writing about the history of Antarctica, the question of “Have you been there?” or in my case, “do you dive?” loomed large. As Howkins (, p. 51–515) illustrates, these questions are not insignificant. On the contrary, they reveal the importance of the researcher “visiting the places they write about” and, rightly or wrongly, confers a “sense of legitimacy” and authority over the research process.…”

“…On the contrary, they reveal the importance of the researcher “visiting the places they write about” and, rightly or wrongly, confers a “sense of legitimacy” and authority over the research process. “Extreme environments,” writes Howkins (, p. 515), only “heighten this sense of legitimacy” because they are difficult to access and to inhabit them requires significant effort and investment of both time and money. In an interview with a former aquanaut, this became apparent when he asked if I was a diver.…”