Mar 2025: Chapter by Olga Povoroznyuk in “A Fractured North – Maintaining Connections”
The third volume of the Fractured North book series, edited by Erich Kasten, Igor Krupnik, and Gail Fondahl, has recently been released by SEC Publications, the publishing house of Kulturstiftung Sibirien. The volume includes a chapter by Olga Povoroznyuk, titled “Reconceptualizing Siberia: a personal account of a changing field.” In it, she reflects on her journey in the anthropology of Siberia and the North, addressing the impact of the recently re-emerged Arctic divide on international research and contacts in this field.
In doing so, she conceptualizes Siberia and anthropological research on the region in broader geopolitical and epistemological contexts, providing a personal account of changing research topics, approaches, and practices that constituted Russian and Austrian traditions in Siberian ethnology and anthropology after the Cold War.
Povorozynuk offers a critical analysis of the intersections of industrialization, environmental degradation, and authoritarianism in shaping the socioeconomic and cultural landscapes of Siberia and the Arctic. She highlights the growing epistemological divide and the challenges facing anthropological research in these regions. Despite the complexity, the chapter concludes with a hopeful note on the potential for maintaining connections across a fractured North. The full chapter is available online and can be found on pages 89–105 of A Fractured North – Maintaining Connections.
News
Apr 16, 2025: Rudolphina Magazine Features Research by Peter Schweitzer
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 […]
Event
Apr 16, 2025: Presentation by Philipp Budka at the Manitoba Museum
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 […]
News
Call for Papers “Beyond Infrastructure? (Un-)built Environments in the Anthropocene”
International Conference, September 22 – 24, 2025, at the University of Vienna. Extended deadline for submissions: April 21, 2025. Infrastructure is often seen as solid, fixed, and inevitable while shaping the way we move, live, and connect. But what about the infrastructures that remain unfinished, abandoned, or merely imagined? How do built, un-built, or non-built […]
Event
Apr 9, 2025: Community Talk by Philipp Budka in Churchill, Manitoba
On April 9, 2025, from 7:00 to 8:00 PM CDT (GMT-5), Philipp Budka will present a talk titled “Navigating Change: How Transport Infrastructure Shapes Life in Churchill” at the Theatre of the Town Centre Complex in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. As part of this community event, the InfraNorth researcher will explore how transport infrastructures both shape […]
News
Mar 2025: Chapter by Olga Povoroznyuk in “A Fractured North – Maintaining Connections”
The third volume of the Fractured North book series, edited by Erich Kasten, Igor Krupnik, and Gail Fondahl, has recently been released by SEC Publications, the publishing house of Kulturstiftung Sibirien. The volume includes a chapter by Olga Povoroznyuk, titled “Reconceptualizing Siberia: a personal account of a changing field.” In it, she reflects on her […]