Human-environmental relations in the Arctic
Retired professor in the Department of Geography
ludger.muller-wille [at] mcgill.ca (E-mail)
Professional career
1965-1971 Studies in Ethnology, Geography, European Prehistory, Nordic and Finnish Languages, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster (Germany), 1965-66, 1967-71; University of Helsinki, Helsinki (Finland), 1966-67; community research with Sámi and Finns in subarctic Finland, 1968-69.
1971 Dr. phil, Ethnology (minors: Geography and European Prehistory), Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität.
1972-1974 Post-doctoral fellow, research in Canada and Northern Europe, German Research Foundation (DFG), Bonn (Germany)
1975-1976 Scholarship Officer, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Bonn.
1977-2008 Professor, Department of Geography, McGill University, Montréal (Québec) Canada.
- 1982-1996 Guest professorships in Marburg, Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki, Kuopio, Oulu, Rovaniemi (Finland), and Fairbanks, Alaska (USA).
- 1982-1994 Director, with Linna Weber Müller-Wille, NUNA-TOP Toponymic Surveys with Inuit in Nunavik (Avataq Cultural Institute) and in Nunavut (Inuit Cultural Institute) in Canada.
- 1990-1995 Founder member / first president, International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA) and convener of ICASS I (First International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences) at Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
- 1994-1996 Director/Professor, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland.
Research Interests and Activities
Since retiring from McGill University in September 2008 I have continued to be active as an independent advisor and editor in scientific matters. These tasks relate to research I have conducted along with Linna Weber Müller-Wille since the mid-1960s in anthropology, geography, and toponymy in various regions and communities in subarctic Finland and Sápmi with Sámi and Finns, and in subarctic and arctic Canada (Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, Nunavik, and Québec) with Dene, Inuit, Naskapi, and Cree.
The various research projects and publications focussed on ethnic identity in bi-cultural communities, languages in contact, herding and hunting economies under modern management and technological changes (e. g. the introduction of snowmobiles), utilization of mountain birch, geographical perception and names based on large-scale toponymic surveys throughout arctic Canada.
Furthermore, I have continued my long-time interests in the early history of anthropology and geography related to Inuit, Arctic, and Science in Canada since the 1880s and the contributions by Franz Boas (1858-1942), Wilhelm Weike (1859-1917) and others.
Selected Publications
Müller-Wille, Ludger 1971 [1974]. Lappen und Finnen in Utsjoki (Ohcijohka), Finnland. Eine Studie zur Identität ethnischer Gruppen im Kulturkontakt. [Sámi and Finns in Utsjoki (Ohcijohka). A Study of Identity of Ethnic Groups in Culture Contact.] Doctoral dissertation. Westfälische Geographische Studien 30. Münster, 285 pp.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 1971. Social and economic change among Finnish Lapps [Sámi]: Snowmobiles among Lapps [Sámi]. Nord-Nytt 4/1971: 249-250, 271-287.
Pelto, Pertti J. and Ludger Müller-Wille 1972. Snowmobiles: Technological Revolution in the Arctic. In: Technology and Social Change. Ed. by H. Russell Bernard and Pertti J. Pelto. New York: The Macmillan Company, p. 166-199.
Pelto, Pertti J. and Ludger Müller-Wille 1973. Reindeer Herding and Snowmobiles: Aspects of a Technological Revolution (Utsjoki and Sevettijärvi, Finnish Lapland). Folk 14-15 (1972/73): 119-144.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 1974. Caribou Never Die! Modern Caribou Hunting Economy of the Dene (Chipewyan) of Fond du Lac, Saskatchewan and Northwest Territories. The Musk-Ox 14: 7-19.
Müller-Wille, Ludger and Pertti J. Pelto, Li[nna] Müller-Wille, Regna Darnell (eds.) 1978. Consequences of Economic Change in Circumpolar Regions. (Symposium at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Amsterdam, March 21-22, 1975). Boreal Institute for Northern Studies Occasional Publication 14. Edmonton: Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, The University of Alberta 1978. 269 pp.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 1978. Cost Analysis of Modern Hunting Among the Inuit of the Central Canadian Arctic. Translated from the German by William Barr. Polar Geography 2, 2: 100-114.
Müller-Wille, Ludger and Pertti J. Pelto (eds.) 1979. Quart Monde nordique / Northern Fourth World. Stratégies politiques du Quart Monde nordique: Inuit, Cris, Sami – Political Expressions in the Northern Fourth World: Inuit, Cree, Sami. (Symposium at the 7th Annual Congress of the Canadian Ethnology Society, Montréal, February 29, 1980). Études/Inuit/Studies 3 (3): 5-72.
Meredith, Thomas C. and Ludger Müller-Wille 1982. The caribou of Nouveau-Québec, an important biological resource. Economic aspects of Naskapi utilization. Le Naturaliste canadien 109: 947-952.
Müller-Wille Ludger and Linna Weber 1983. Inuit Place Name Inventory of Northeastern Québec-Labrador. McGill Subarctic Research Paper 37: 151-222.
Müller-Wille, Ludger in conjunction with the Inuit Elders of Nunavik and Avataq Cultural Institute 1987. Gazetteer of Inuit Place Names in Nunavik (Quebec, Canada) /Inuttitut Nunait Atingitta Katirsutauningit Nunavimmi (Kupaimmi, Kanatami) / Répertoire toponymique inuit du Nunavik (Québec, Canada). Inukjuak: Avataq Cultural Institute. 368 pp.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 1987. Indigenous Peoples, Land-Use Conflicts, and Economic Development in Circumpolar Lands. In: Restoration and Vegetation Succession in Circumpolar Lands. Ed. by Kathleen A. Salzberg, Sturla Fridriksson, and Patrick J. Webber (Seventh Conference of the Comité arctique international, Reykjavik, Iceland, September 7-13, 1986). Arctic and Alpine Research 19 (4): 351-356.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 1992. Nunavik: territoire et habitants, lieux et toponymes - Nunavik: Land and People, Places and Names. In: Aux couleurs de la terre. Héritage culturel des Premières nations / Wrapped in the Colours of the Earth. Cultural Heritage of the First Nations. Montréal: McCord Museum of Canadian History / Musée McCord d'Histoire canadienne, p. 88-103.
Müller-Wille, Ludger and Ragnar Müller-Wille 1996. Sápmelaččat Ohcejogas Sámis - Eallinmállet 1960-logu loahpageahčen / Sámi in Ohcijohka, Sápmi - Modes of Life in the Late 1960s / Saamelaiset Utsjoella - 1960-luvun lopun elämää. Exhibit at the Arktikum. Rovaniemi: Ohcijohka Cultural Committee and Arctic Centre, University of Lapland. 50 pp., 34 photos.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 1996. Developments and Challenges in Social Science Research in Northern Finland. In: Les géographies du Nord: hommage à Louis-Edmond Hamelin. Présentation par Henri Dorion et Christian Morissonneau. Cahiers de Géographie du Québec 40 (110): 277-280.
Müller-Wille, Ludger (ed.) 1998. Franz Boas among the Inuit of Baffin Island 1883-1884. Journals and Diaries. Translated by William Barr. Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press. 298 pp.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 2001. From reindeer stew to pizza: the displacement of local food resources in Sápmi, northernmost Europe. Fennia 179, 1: 89-96.
Müller-Wille, Ludger and Dietbert Thannheiser 2003. Agricultural land-use changes in modern subarctic Europe: Adaptations in the Sámi village of Máze, Sápmi (Norway). Erdkunde 57, 4: 285-295.
Aikio, M. Sofia and Ludger Müller-Wille 2005. Sámi approaches to mountain birch utilization in northern Sápmi (Finland and Norway). In: Plant Ecology, Herbivory, and Human Impact in Northern Mountain Birch Forests. Ed. by Frans Wielgolaski. Ecological Studies 180: 255-268. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.
Forbes, Bruce and Manfred Bölter, Ludger Müller-Wille, Janne Hukkinen, Felix Müller, Nicolas Gunslay, Yulian Konstantinov (eds.) 2006. Reindeer management in northernmost Europe: Linking practical and scientific knowledge in social-ecological systems. Ecological Studies 184. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. 397 pp.
Müller-Wille, Ludger and Linna Weber Müller-Wille 2006. Inuit Geographical Knowledge One Hundred Years Apart. In: Critical Inuit Studies. An Anthology of Contemporary Arctic Ethnography. Ed. by Pamela Stern and Lisa Stevenson. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, p. 217-229.
Dybbroe, Susanne and Jens Dahl, Ludger Müller-Wille (eds.) 2010. History Matters: Dynamics of Arctic Urbanization. Acta Borealia 27, 2: 120-220.
Krupnik, Igor and Ludger Müller-Wille 2010. Franz Boas and Inuktitut Terminology for Ice and Snow: From the Emergence of the Field to the ‘Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax’. In: SIKU: Knowing Our Ice. Documenting Inuit Sea-Ice Knowledge and Use. Ed. By Krupnik, Igor and Claudio Aporta, Shari Gearheard, Gita J. Laidler, Lene Kielsen Holm (eds.) Springer: Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York, p. 377-400.
Müller-Wille, Ludger and Bernd Gieseking 2011. Inuit and Whalers on Baffin Island through German Eyes. Wilhelm Weike’s Arctic Journal and Letters (1883-1884). Translated by William Barr. Montréal: Baraka Books 2011. 284 pp.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 2014. The Franz Boas Enigma. Inuit, Arctic, and Science. Foreword by Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt. Montréal: Baraka Books 2014. 186 pp.
Müller-Wille, Ludger 2016. Franz Boas's English Publications on Inuit and the Arctic (1884-1926): A Bibliographical Survey. In: Early Inuit Studies: Themes and Transitions, 1850s -1980s. Ed. by Igor Krupnik. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, p. 83-89.