ABSTRACT
Public and academic discourses about the Polar regions typically focus
on the so-called ... more ABSTRACT Public and academic discourses about the Polar regions typically focus on the so-called natural environment. While, these discourses and inquiries continue to be relevant, the current article asks the question how to conceptualize the on-going industrial and infrastructural build-up of the Arctic. Acknowledging that the “built environment” is not an invention of modernity, the article nevertheless focuses on large-scale infrastructural projects of the twentieth century, which marks a watershed of industrial and infrastructural development in the north. Given that the Soviet Union was at the vanguard of these developments, the focus will be on Soviet and Russian largescale projects. We will be discussing two cases of transportation infrastructure, one of them based on an on-going research project being conducted by the authors along the Baikal–Amur Mainline (BAM) and the other focused on the so-called Northern Sea Route, the marine passage with a long history that has recently been regaining public and academic attention. The concluding section will argue for increased attention to the interactions between humans and the built environment, serving as a kind of programmatic call for more anthropological attention to infrastructure in the Russian north and other polar regions.
ABSTRACT
Public and academic discourses about the Polar regions typically focus
on the so-called ... more ABSTRACT Public and academic discourses about the Polar regions typically focus on the so-called natural environment. While, these discourses and inquiries continue to be relevant, the current article asks the question how to conceptualize the on-going industrial and infrastructural build-up of the Arctic. Acknowledging that the “built environment” is not an invention of modernity, the article nevertheless focuses on large-scale infrastructural projects of the twentieth century, which marks a watershed of industrial and infrastructural development in the north. Given that the Soviet Union was at the vanguard of these developments, the focus will be on Soviet and Russian largescale projects. We will be discussing two cases of transportation infrastructure, one of them based on an on-going research project being conducted by the authors along the Baikal–Amur Mainline (BAM) and the other focused on the so-called Northern Sea Route, the marine passage with a long history that has recently been regaining public and academic attention. The concluding section will argue for increased attention to the interactions between humans and the built environment, serving as a kind of programmatic call for more anthropological attention to infrastructure in the Russian north and other polar regions.
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Papers by Sigrid Schiesser
Public and academic discourses about the Polar regions typically focus
on the so-called natural environment. While, these discourses and
inquiries continue to be relevant, the current article asks the question
how to conceptualize the on-going industrial and infrastructural
build-up of the Arctic. Acknowledging that the “built environment”
is not an invention of modernity, the article nevertheless focuses on
large-scale infrastructural projects of the twentieth century, which
marks a watershed of industrial and infrastructural development
in the north. Given that the Soviet Union was at the vanguard of
these developments, the focus will be on Soviet and Russian largescale
projects. We will be discussing two cases of transportation
infrastructure, one of them based on an on-going research project
being conducted by the authors along the Baikal–Amur Mainline
(BAM) and the other focused on the so-called Northern Sea Route, the
marine passage with a long history that has recently been regaining
public and academic attention. The concluding section will argue
for increased attention to the interactions between humans and the
built environment, serving as a kind of programmatic call for more
anthropological attention to infrastructure in the Russian north and
other polar regions.
Public and academic discourses about the Polar regions typically focus
on the so-called natural environment. While, these discourses and
inquiries continue to be relevant, the current article asks the question
how to conceptualize the on-going industrial and infrastructural
build-up of the Arctic. Acknowledging that the “built environment”
is not an invention of modernity, the article nevertheless focuses on
large-scale infrastructural projects of the twentieth century, which
marks a watershed of industrial and infrastructural development
in the north. Given that the Soviet Union was at the vanguard of
these developments, the focus will be on Soviet and Russian largescale
projects. We will be discussing two cases of transportation
infrastructure, one of them based on an on-going research project
being conducted by the authors along the Baikal–Amur Mainline
(BAM) and the other focused on the so-called Northern Sea Route, the
marine passage with a long history that has recently been regaining
public and academic attention. The concluding section will argue
for increased attention to the interactions between humans and the
built environment, serving as a kind of programmatic call for more
anthropological attention to infrastructure in the Russian north and
other polar regions.