The agency of ice in Arctic geopolitics: An autoethnography of the Northwest Passage

• Ice is both a matter that restricts and an idea that enables. • Taking ice seriously enhances the geopolitical understanding of the Arctic. • In the Northwest Passage, ice actively participates in the possibilities of sailing the route. • Autoethnography enables an understanding of the agency of ice over human actors. Ice is not static: it moves, melts, freezes, changes – ice acts. Ice has a meaning beyond its materiality. The geopolitical imagination, including the utilisation of Arctic maritime routes and other ‘possibilities’ of the Arctic, has been built on the reality of the melting sea ice. However, the ice itself is rarely considered an equal actor, even though all human activities in the Arctic Ocean are still largely determined by ice. Drawing on posthumanist work on agency, this article takes the agency of ice in the Arctic waterway of the Northwest Passage (NWP) seriously, focusing on the embodied geographical reality of the ice. By sailing the route myself, with a sailboat, I ask: How is the agency of ice manifested and present in the Northwest Passage? During the voyage, I conducted an autoethnography on the agency of ice over our voyage. In addition, I analysed ice charts and satellite images to complement the analysis. This article demonstrates how the overarching agency of ice over our journey was manifested by determining the route and schedule, dominating both the land- and mindscape, forcing various interactions and by surprising us constantly. The agency of ice is relevant also to the wider geopolitical context of the Arctic maritime routes: ice actively participates in shaping how it is understood, thereby influencing the geopolitical reality of a space like the NWP.