Drawing on conversations that the InfraNorth researcher had with residents of Nunavut during her fieldwork, the article highlights the crucial role that the trillion-dollar corporation Amazon.com, Inc. has played for local communities since opening a warehouse in Iqaluit in 2020. The new Amazon hub allowed people living in remote areas of northern Canada to access previously unaffordable goods without shipping costs. This was especially important in a region where transportation logistics, storage capacities, and food insecurity are critical issues. However, the company discontinued access to free deliveries in the spring of 2024. The article follows a recent petition campaign to extend Amazon Prime services to the region.
The peer-reviewed academic journal Visual Anthropology has just published the article “Framing Multipolar Tourism: Imaginaries, Visualities and Futures,” written jointly by Jolynna Sinanan (University of Manchester) and InfraNorth researchers Ria-Maria Adams and Philipp Budka. The article examines multipolar iconography and how imaginaries of remote, climate-vulnerable places have materialized through improved transport, enhanced accommodation facilities, […]
InfraNorth researcher Ria-Maria Adams will be convening a panel and presenting a paper at the 2025 Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society in Helsinki. This year’s conference, which marks the Society’s 50th anniversary, will be held under the theme Comparisons in Helsinki from June 16 to 18, 2025. The panel session “Rethinking Infrastructure through […]
InfraNorth researcher Philipp Budka will deliver the keynote address for the Social Science Track at the International Digital Security Forum (IDSF) 2025, held under the theme “Sovereignty and Solidarity in the Digital Age – a critical view.” Hosted by the Vienna Centre for Societal Security (VICESSE) and the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, it will […]
A recent article written by journalist Karine Lavoie for Le Nunavoix, a French-language community newspaper published in Nunavut, reports on the recent visit of InfraNorth researcher Katrin Schmid to Nunavut, where she presented the findings of her research on transportation infrastructure and food sovereignty in Nunavut. Schmid’s report “Country Food Cargo: Transport Infrastructure and Food […]
The University of Vienna’s research magazine, Rudolphina, recently featured Peter Schweitzer, principal investigator of InfraNorth, and his long-standing anthropological engagement with Arctic communities. Schweitzer’s research focuses on issues related to the built environment, mobility, remoteness, and the social impacts of climate change on community life in the Arctic. The article, which includes a video interview […]
InfraNorth team member Philipp Budka will deliver a public presentation of his research titled “Infrastructural Sovereignty and the Social Life of Transport: Ethnographic Insights from Northern Manitoba, Canada” on Wednesday, April 16, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM (GMT-5) at the Manitoba Museum Auditorium in Winnipeg, Canada. Churchill, Manitoba—a remote Subarctic town of approximately 870 residents—offers […]
