Dec 2025: Article by Katrin Schmid in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
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 high costs and limited availability in the Arctic.
This article explores the significant yet underexamined role of the Amazon corporation in Nunavut, Canada, as a response to the territory’s infrastructural and economic challenges. By combining an alimentary understanding of infrastructure with the theoretical concept of assemblage theory, Schmid analyzes Amazon’s operations as part of a complex system shaped by global logistics and local agency.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork, her research highlights how Inuit residents adapt Amazon’s services to navigate gaps left by government programs. This nuanced perspective challenges assumptions about e-commerce as a purely homogenizing force, illustrating how residents adapt global platforms to meet local needs, and underscoring the interplay between global corporations, local infrastructure, and Indigenous agency in shaping Arctic livelihoods.
This article is available open access in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. It is part of the special issue “Ethnographies of Infrastructure” guest edited by Philipp Budka, Peter Schweitzer and Olga Povoroznyuk, which will be published in February 2026.
