Antarcticans Unite

Nearly every New Zealander, according to American author of The Entire Earth and Sky: Views on Antarctica, Leslie Carol Roberts “has some link to Antarctica – either they had been there, or someone they knew had been there, or they are trying to go.” While few North Americans know or, admittedly, care about that remote landmass, Roberts found a very different attitude in New Zealand, where she did some of her studies for the book. “Most people don’t realise that New Zealand has a large land-claim in Antarctica, called the Ross Dependency,” Roberts says. “I found this relationship of tiny island nation and ice continent really resonated for me, and so it became a large part of the narrative: how Antarctica inhabits New Zealand, what its stories mean there … They are mad for Antarctica there.”