SCAR – Humanities & Social Sciences Expert Group
The Social Sciences Action Group (now HASSEG) was formed in 2010 by a group of international scholars with the aim of fostering new approaches to Antarctic research grounded in the humanities and social sciences. The group exists as part of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Its main focus during the period 2010-2012 was on cata
loging the range of human values associated with the southern polar continent, including both intrinsic values (such as symbolic and spiritual) and extrinsic values (such as economic and scientific). A secondary objective has been to show the ways in which these values may have an impact on the level and nature of human activity in Antarctica. Some of these decisions will be limited to a local impact, while others may affect entire global systems, primarily via their effects on climate, culture, and international policy. Thus, understanding the extent and nature of the values that human beings place on Antarctica has large-scale and very serious implications. It was this concern that gave rise to the recognition that an action group was needed to study and report on those values. Social scientists and humanities researchers have the expertise and tools to lead an academic assessment of Antarctic values. They can offer different perspectives to those of stakeholders more directly involved in Antarctic science and policy.
