Hi there! My name is Emma Johanna Puranen, and Glossopteris is my blog for all things polar. My interest in the polar regions began when I first visited the RRS Discovery, now a museum ship in Dundee, Scotland. Since Discovery piqued my interest, I’ve read dozens of books, gone on trips to museums and polar history sites, researched in archives and national libraries, and ended up with a part-time job doing repair and maintenance onboard Discovery herself. Haha. Whoops…
…wait, what are you doing?! Stop tying that bowline! I don’t need help out of this crevasse! I, well…I’m afraid I rather like it down here.
In my non-polar life, I’m an interdisciplinary researcher. My PhD investigated the portrayal of science in science fiction. I think a lot of the same themes that drew me to science fiction also drew me to polar history—isolation, the allure of the unknown, environments that humans need special equipment to survive in, camaraderie amidst extremis, the sublime, science and questions of ethics in science, the ways in which people either re-enact or don’t re-enact the power structures and methods of governance of homes that are increasingly far away while forming societies in miniature…I could go on. All are abundantly present in polar history and science fiction both—not for nothing is Antarctica frequently compared to Mars. It is indeed this very human aspect of society-making on the edge of the unknown that drives my main interest in Antarctic history.
I’m here to share, and I’m here to learn. I hope to make you think about the human story of the Antarctic, in all its hubris and beauty and mundanity and tragedy and wonder—and I hope also occasionally to make you laugh.
Care to join me?
Glossopteris 