Jun 1, 2024: Peter Schweitzer Receives IASSA Award 2024
Peter Schweitzer receives the IASSA Award 2024 in Bodø.
The International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA) has granted Peter Schweitzer an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award in recognition of his sustained and significant contribution to Arctic social sciences. The award ceremony took place on June 1, 2024, during the 11th International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS XI) and as part of the Arctic Congress Bodø 2024.
Besides his leadership of the ERC Advanced Grant project “Building Arctic Futures: Transport Infrastructures and Sustainable Northern Communities” (InfraNorth), Peter Schweitzer is Professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Research Group Leader at the Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI). In the past, he has been president of the International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA), chair of the Social and Human Sciences Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), and director of the Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI), among other roles.
IASSA is an international association that represents Arctic social scientists, established in 1990 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Since its inception, it has aimed to promote the involvement of social scientists in both national and international Arctic research.
InfraNorth researchers contribute two chapters to the forthcoming book Arctic Silk Roads: An Anthropology of the Unbuilt, edited by Natalia Magnani and Matthew Magnani. The volume will be published by Berghahn Books in January 2026 as part of the Studies in the Circumpolar North series. As climate change accelerates, the melting of sea ice is […]
The Journal of Contemporary Ethnography has published the article “Amazon in the Arctic: E-Commerce, Infrastructure, and Alimentary Assemblages in Nunavut, Canada” by InfraNorth researcher Katrin Schmid. Since establishing a delivery hub in Iqaluit, Nunavut in 2020, Amazon.com, Inc. has become an essential resource for many Nunavut residents, providing affordable access to goods otherwise constrained by […]
The Journal of Contemporary Ethnography recently published the article “Toward a Comparative Ethnography of Arctic Seaports Projects: Local Impacts of Expanding Maritime Infrastructure in Alaska, Norway, and Russia” by InfraNorth researcher Olga Povoroznyuk. In this article, the author’s comparative ethnography focuses on suspended seaport expansion projects in three Arctic coastal communities: Nome (USA), Kirkenes (Norway), […]
The quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal Polar Geography has just released the article “No room in the North: housing scarcity as infrastructure’s failed relations in the Arctic” by InfraNorth researchers Katrin Schmid and Ria-Maria Adams. The article examines the entanglements of housing infrastructure, economic structures, and social relations in Arctic regions, focusing on Nunavut (Canada) and […]
InfraNorth researcher Ria-Maria Adams will deliver a lecture titled “For Whom Do the Sleigh Bells Toll? Social Media’s Role in Shaping Expectations of Arctic Tourism Destinations” on December 2, 2025, at 16:30 GMT, at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, as part of its Anthropology Seminar Series. The talk will delve into how tourism infrastructures […]
The quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal Polar Geography has recently published the article “Temporality of Arctic Transport Infrastructure: Bridging Seasonal Supply in Egvekinot, Chukotka” by InfraNorth researchers Elena Davydova and Olga Povoroznyuk. The article explores local impacts of, and responses to, seasonal configurations of connectivity and disruptions in the functioning of transport infrastructure in the Russian […]
