Jul 2024: Chapter by Peter Schweitzer in “A Fractured North – Journeys on Hold”

A Fractured North

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 of Siberia and the Politics of Field Access.”

In this chapter, Schweitzer delves into historical illustrations of shifts along a continuum of “openings” and “closures” (understanding these terms as relative and relational) between Russia and the “West” (i.e. western Europe and North America) over the course of the 18th and 20th centuries. In doing so, the author seeks to apply historical lessons to our present situation, and asks whether we can learn from them.

This collection of texts is the second volume in a series initiated by SEC Publications in 2023 under the title “A Fractured North,” envisioned as a response of the international community of Northern scholars to the ongoing war in Ukraine and to the disruption (“fracture”) it causes.

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 […]

Apr 8, 2025: Nunatsiaq News Features Research by Katrin Schmid

InfraNorth team member Katrin Schmid’s recent presentation on transport infrastructure and food sovereignty in Nunavut was featured in Nunatsiaq News, a local newspaper in the region. Schmid shared her findings at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit on April 8, 2025, in a public presentation titled “Country Food Cargo: How Transport Infrastructure Shapes Food Sovereignty […]

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 […]

Arctic Science Summit Week 2024

Mar 20–28, 2025: InfraNorth at the Arctic Science Summit Week 2025

InfraNorth researchers Peter Schweitzer, Olga Povoroznyuk, Alexandra Meyer, Ria-Maria Adams, and Susanna Gartler will participate in the Arctic Science Summit Week 2025 (ASSW) from 20 to 28 March 2025 at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA. This year’s summit, themed “Arctic Research Planning for the Next Decade,” will include the 4th International Conference on Arctic […]