The ghost in the text: metaphorical hauntings as inquiry into social injustices in arctic literature

Delcenia Cosman
Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:51:53 PDT

Since the Golden Age of Arctic exploration, the Arctic has been habitually situated as a place in which the supernatural can thrive. Arctic-based ghost stories possess a particular environmental flavor and, focusing on specific traumas created by late-stage capitalism and extractive colonialism, reveal crimes that have been buried, with the ghost returning to demand retribution. Beyond the traditional revenant, ghostly behavior may also be attributed to living people or nonhuman objects that work to uncover hidden crimes and gain justice or revenge. Broadening the scope of what can be defined as a ghost to include metaphorical modes of haunting allows authors of Arctic-based literature to address complex cultural and historical issues in new and compelling ways.