Danita Catherine Burke

For over a decade I have focused my studies and research on exploring different dimensions of international relations, with an empirical focus on the Arctic and the North. This has included research on topics ranging for the evolution of Canada’s relationship with the North and Arctic, diplomacy in the Arctic region and the Arctic Council and the roles and legacy of environmental activism in the Circumpolar North.

I have a PhD from the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK and undergraduate and graduate degrees in Political Science from Memorial University of Newfoundland. My research as been funded by the: Social Science and Humanities Research Council (2010-2011: Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship), Rothermere Foundation (2011-2015), Carlsberg Foundation (2016-2018: Carlsberg Foundation Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship), EU Horizon 2020 (2018-2020: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship), and J.R. Smallwood Foundation for Newfoundland and Labrador Studies (2020-2022).

I am currently a research fellow affiliated with the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark concluding a research project funded by the J.R. Smallwood Foundation on environmental activism and cultural violence during the anti-sealing movement of the 1960s-1980s and its long-term consequences for rural and coastal sealing communities and cultures. My research on the complex legacies of environmental activism is set to continue. I have been awarded a 2022-23 Northern Scholars Research Fellowship by the University of Edinburgh to visit and work on my research into Greenpeace and its history and its 21st century ambitions in the Arctic and Circumpolar North.

If you would like to learn more about my work, or would like to contact me, you can find me on twitter @DanitaBurke1 or you can contact me by email (burke@sam.sdu.dk).

For additional information on my research, please visit my:

Center for War Studies, SDU

Academia.edu profile page

Select Speaking Engagements:

Radio interview with CBC The Broadcast with Jane Adey (November 11, 2021) to follow-up on my interview and research calling on Greenpeace to apologize to Newfoundland and Labrador sealers, Indigenous peoples, sealing communities and families for inflicting forms of violence on rural and isolated sealers and sealing cultures in the 1970s-1980s (https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-122-the-broadcast/clip/15878064-still-waiting-apology-greenpeace)

Radio interview with CBC Labrador Morning (September 14, 2021) to discuss my call for the development of a Newfoundland and Labrador northern strategy (https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-31-labrador-morning/clip/15865971-caribou-skin-coat-on-display-nunatsiavut-language-strategy?share=true)

Radio interview with CBC The Broadcast with Jane Adey (May 27, 2021) to discuss the impact of economic, cultural and psychological violence on coastal communities in during the anti-sealing movement (https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-122/clip/15845723)

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Some of my publications include:

Burke, Danita Catherine (2021). “The Case for a Greenpeace Apology to Newfoundland and Labrador.” The Northern Review (Open Access). https://doi.org/10.22584/nr51.2021.002.

Burke, Danita Catherine. (2021). “The Relationship between Kanngiqtugaapik/Clyde River and Greenpeace: An Interview with Mayor Jerry Natanine.” Arctic 74(1): 106-110 (Open Access). https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic72299.

Burke, Danita Catherine. (2020) “Re-establishing Legitimacy after Stigmatization: Greenpeace in the North American North.” Polar Record 56(e26): 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247420000285

Burke, Danita Catherine. (2019) Diplomacy and the Arctic Council. Montreal and Kingston. McGill-Queens University Press. https://www.mqup.ca/diplomacy-and-the-arctic-council-products-9780773559196.php.

Burke, Danita Catherine. (2018) International Disputes and Cultural Ideas in the Canadian Arctic: Arctic Sovereignty in the National Consciousness. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319619163.

Burke, Danita Catherine and Andre Saramago. (2018) “Singapore’s use of Education as a Soft Power Tool in Arctic Cooperation.” Asian Survey  58(5): 920-941. https://doi.org/10.1525/AS.2018.58.5.920.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale and Danita Catherine Burke. (2014). “Bridging Troubled Waters: History as Political Opportunity Structure.” Journal of Civil Society 10(2): 165-183. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17448689.2014.919179?journalCode=rcis20&#.Va1ua_lViko.

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