Dec 13, 2023: Olga Povoroznyuk Receives sowi:doc Award 2023
Dr. Olga Povoroznyuk, the research coordinator and study region lead for the Russian Arctic in InfraNorth, has received the sowi:doc Award 2023 for her outstanding dissertation project “Soviet infrastructure in the post-Soviet era? Building a railroad and identity along the Baikal–Amur Mainline in East Siberia.”
Dr. Povoroznyuk defended her dissertation at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna, with the supervision of Dr. Peter Schweitzer, in September 2022. Her thesis explores the role of large-scale infrastructure projects as embodiments of state modernization and identity building processes. Drawing on the case study of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, a railroad line built in the 1970s and 1980s in East Siberia, she explores how the railroad shaped socialist communities and identities and how it still remains a powerful medium for transmission of ideologies and memories in the post-socialist politics of identity and emotion. In her railroad ethnography, she introduces the concept of transformative infrastructure to highlight the agency of large-scale projects drawing Indigenous, local and migrant populations into the orbit of modernization. Her research was supported by the FWF project Configurations of “Remoteness”, as well as the ERC Advanced Grant Project InfraNorth.
The Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Vienna grants the sowi:doc Awards annually to recognize excellent research outcomes. These awards are given to three to four doctoral graduates whose theses have been nominated by their supervisors. The primary goal of the sowi:doc Awards is to inspire and encourage these graduates to pursue an academic career.
News
Aug 29, 2024: Presentation by Philipp Budka at the Churchill Barber Symposium 2024
Philipp Budka will be presenting at this year’s Churchill Barber Symposium on Thursday, August 29, 2024, at 09:00 local time (Churchill, Manitoba) or 16:00 CEST. His presentation will discuss the organization and results of two future scenario workshops held in Churchill in 2023. Here is the abstract of his presentation: The Town of Churchill, a […]
News
July 2024: Chapter by Peter Schweitzer in “A Fractured North – Journeys on Hold”
The publishing house of Kulturstiftung Sibirien, SEC Publications, has just released the book “A Fractured North – Journeys on Hold,” a collection of texts edited by Erich Kasten, Igor Krupnik, and Gail Fondahl. The book, available in both print and digital versions, features a chapter written by Peter Schweitzer, titled “Openings and Closures: The Anthropology […]
News
Jul 23, 2024: InfraNorth at EASA 2024 Conference in Barcelona
InfraNorth team members will participate in the 18th EASA Biennial Conference in Barcelona. With the theme “Doing and Undoing with Anthropology,” the event will take place at the University of Barcelona (July 23 – 26, 2024). On Tuesday, July 23, Katrin Schmid will present her paper “Devolution of Desires, or How Food and Transportation Determine […]
News
Jun 20, 2024: Polar Journal Features Research by Katrin Schmid
Polar Journal, an online information platform on polar affairs, recently published an article titled “Nunavut communities in petition to regain access to vital Amazon deliveries.” The piece, written by Ole Ellekrog, features insights from Katrin Schmid’s research in Nunavut, as well as her recent blog post “Amazon in the Arctic.” Drawing on conversations that the […]
