CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

How have the whaling Antarctica stories been told? Narratives tell stories while they build the world in which these stories take place. Is it possible to think about an Antarctica beyond exploration, isolation, harshness, icy landscapes, and hostile nature? Is it possible to think the unthinkable? Finding new ways of telling stories is not only learning about what is not yet known but also reaching beyond it. That is to say, an Antarctica of exploitation, occupied lands, industrialized landscapes, human occupation, constant movement, circulation and communication, not only of long travels but also of extensive stays. The aim of this paper is to identify the ways in which the whalers? Antarctica stories have been told. We believe that the ways of telling stories contribute to building, creating and producing pictures of Antarctica. In a certain way they structure the limits of what can be considered possible as well as of what is unthinkable or beyond our visual range. Our analysis is focused on a number of stories that can be considered the entrance doorway for those readers interested in the whaling activity in Antarctica. The selected pieces are part of a continuum that spreads from academic literature to general literature while fluctuating between the history of Antarctica and the history of whaling. In order to explore these stories we defined three analytical axes: time, space and people. These axes allow us to identify the pictures that shape the whaling Antarctica as it is today known and recognizable. The outcome of this paper poses a fresh start and a new challenge: looking beyond the existing pictures and using new narrative ways. Our objective is not only to come to know the unknown but to imagine different whaling Antarcticas: to imagine the unimaginable.