Indian Contributions to Antarctic Social Sciences

Abstract

The term ‘social sciences’ encompasses a diverse group of disciplines and fields of study and not simply the study of politics and policy. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Humanities and Social Sciences Experts Group (HASSEG), the body representing the Antarctic social scientists, is an outstanding example of emphatic acknowledgment –in this case by SCAR—of critically important interface/interaction between natural sciences and social
sciences. In case of India, both the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), New Delhi and the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa have welcomed and encouraged not onlypolicy-oriented, critically-informed social science research on a range of issues related to Antarctic governance (e.g. bioprospecting, climate change, tourism) but also the presence of social scientists in Indian delegations to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCMs). The presence and participation of an Indian social scientist in the Executive Committee of HASSEG, representing the field of Geopolitics, has opened up valuable space for India to engage in innovative, cutting edge international collaborative research in Antarctic social sciences. This article provides a synoptic overview of Antarctic social science research in India over past decade or so thematically rather than chronologically.