Nov 28, 2024: Presentation by Ria-Maria Adams at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Katrin Großmann (Forschungskollektiv Peripherie und Zentrum, FH Erfurt) and InfraNorth researcher Ria-Maria Adams will be presenting at the conference Zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement & Stadterneuerung (in English: Civic Engagement & Urban Regeneration) organized by the Institute for European Urban Studies (IfEU) at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in Germany (November 28 – 29, 2024).
On Thursday, November 28, at 11:00 CET, they will be part of a panel providing a theoretical overview. Their presentation, titled Peripherisierung und Zivilgesellschaft: zwischen Selbstresponsibilisierung, Austerität und Ermächtigung (in English: “Peripheralisation and civil society: between self-responsibilization, austerity, and empowerment”) is related to a joint chapter they are working on for the book series Jahrbuch Stadterneuerung. Also on this topic, they have previously published together with others in journals such as the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research and Cities.
Civil society actors in peripheralized regions face a complex dilemma: while voluntary work is often seen as a key strength and a resource for development, these actors operate under challenging conditions shaped by socio-spatial inequalities, such as emigration, aging populations, and dependence on external funding. In this conference, Großmann and Adams will present the results of their joint research on peripheral(-ized) communities in Germany, Finland, and Norway, which revealed that civil society initiatives and their actors defy stereotypes, balancing empowerment and autonomy with constraints like (self-)responsibilization and scarce resources. Their German-Finnish comparison emphasizes the decisive role of state support: austerity is not a normal and inevitable fate of peripheral places, because with the appropriate political will the state can redistribute resources from the center to the periphery.
The full conference program is available via this link (only in German).
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 […]
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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 […]
News
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 […]
