Beyond wilderness: towards an anthropology of infrastructure and the built environment in the Russian North*. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schweitzer, Peter; Povoroznyuk, Olga; Schiesser, Sigrid
• Is Part Of: Polar journal. Volume 7:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 58
• Page End: 85
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Arctic -- Soviet Union -- Russian Federation -- infrastructure -- built environment -- transportation -- Baikal-Amur Mainline -- Northern Sea Route; Polar regions -- Periodicals; Polar regions -- Research -- Periodicals; Antarctica -- Periodicals; Antarctica -- Research -- Periodicals; 998
• DOI: 10.1080/2154896X.2017.1334427
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2154-896X

Abstract

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 large-scale 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.