June 14-15, 2022: InfraNorth Workshop “Arctic Infrastructures: Histories of Exploration, Colonization & Industrial Development”

The Arctic, which often has been recognized by residents of temperate climate zones for its supposed unspoiled nature, has a long history of colonization, urbanization and industrial exploitation. From the days of Arctic whaling to gold rushes and oil booms, the Arctic has a rich legacy of built environment serving as infrastructure mainly for non-arctic resource exploitation and domination.

While the ERC project InfraNorth is focused on transport infrastructures, this workshop takes a broader view and explores infrastructures from mining to hydropower to military. It will bring together a number of academic experts working in different parts of the Arctic and aims at exploring the developments that led to the contemporary entanglements between local communities and infrastructures.

The workshop will take place in a hybrid format – on-site at the Luleå University of Technology and on-line. To participate online, please register here: Zoom registration

Flyer Workshop

Jan 2026: InfraNorth Contributions to Forthcoming Book “Arctic Silk Roads”

InfraNorth researchers contribute two chapters to the forthcoming book Arctic Silk Roads: An Anthropology of the Unbuilt, edited by Natalia Magnani and Matthew Magnani. The volume will be published by Berghahn Books in January 2026 as part of the Studies in the Circumpolar North series. As climate change accelerates, the melting of sea ice is […]

Cover of the Polar Geography journal.

Dec 2025: Article by Katrin Schmid and Ria-Maria Adams in Polar Geography

The quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal Polar Geography has just released the article “No room in the North: housing scarcity as infrastructure’s failed relations in the Arctic” by InfraNorth researchers Katrin Schmid and Ria-Maria Adams. The article examines the entanglements of housing infrastructure, economic structures, and social relations in Arctic regions, focusing on Nunavut (Canada) and […]

National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Dec 2, 2025: Presentation by Ria-Maria Adams at Maynooth University, Ireland

InfraNorth researcher Ria-Maria Adams will deliver a lecture titled “For Whom Do the Sleigh Bells Toll? Social Media’s Role in Shaping Expectations of Arctic Tourism Destinations” on December 2, 2025, at 16:30 GMT, at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, as part of its Anthropology Seminar Series. The talk will delve into how tourism infrastructures […]

Cover of the Polar Geography journal.

Dec 2025: Article by Elena Davydova and Olga Povoroznyuk in Polar Geography

The quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal Polar Geography has recently published the article “Temporality of Arctic Transport Infrastructure: Bridging Seasonal Supply in Egvekinot, Chukotka” by InfraNorth researchers Elena Davydova and Olga Povoroznyuk. The article explores local impacts of, and responses to, seasonal configurations of connectivity and disruptions in the functioning of transport infrastructure in the Russian […]

Budka, Philipp, and Giuseppe Amatulli, eds. Narratives and Temporalities of Infrastructure: The Canadian Experience. Special issue, Anthropologica, Vol. 67, No. 1 (2025).

Nov 2025: Special Issue of “Anthropologica” Co-edited by Giuseppe Amatulli and Philipp Budka

A new special issue of Anthropologica (Vol. 67, No. 1, 2025), the journal of the Canadian Anthropology Society, has just been published. Titled “Narratives and Temporalities of Infrastructure: The Canadian Experience,” the issue was co-edited by Giuseppe Amatulli (Carleton University) and InfraNorth researcher Philipp Budka and presents anthropological perspectives on water, energy and transport infrastructures […]

Nov 2025: Article by Julia Olsen, Alexandra Meyer, et al. in The Polar Journal

The Polar Journal, which publishes policy-relevant research on polar affairs from across the social sciences and humanities, has recently released the article ‘Building transdisciplinary bridges and learning from the Svalbard context’ by Julia Olsen, Alexandra Meyer, and Lisbeth Iversen, Ulrich Schildberg, Ragnhild Holmen Bjørnsen, Grete K. Hovelsrud, James Badu, Dina Brode-Roger, Adriana Craciun, Hanne H. […]