“A Southern Perspective on the North”
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“With the Head up North”
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Working title: “More than ‘Nature’: Research on Infrastructure and Settlements in the North”

The Working Group Arctic and Subarctic in Vienna invites scholars to contribute to an edited volume to be published in the fall of 2020. While the Arctic seems inevitably linked to pristine wilderness, climate change, and endangered animal species in popular imagination, the presence of villages, towns and cities, and the infrastructures they rely on, have largely been overlooked and underrepresented. One could argue that, historically, the extraction of resources and their transportation from the North have been prime reasons for the development of infrastructure and the establishment of settlements in the Arctic and Subarctic. In addition to purely economic motivations, ideological, military, political and strategic considerations have played and continue to play important roles.

The aim of this book is to showcase contemporary research about Northern towns and Arctic and Subarctic infrastructures, as well as related aspects and phenomena, mainly from a social science perspective.

The themes and topics of the contributions include but are not limited to:
• Arctic infrastructure
• Living conditions in the Arctic
• Research methods
• Urban-rural relations
• Center-periphery relations
• City life
• Urbanity

We invite contributions from the following disciplines, among others:
• Urban Studies
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• History
• Northern Studies
• Geography
• Sociology

Interested scholars are encouraged to send an abstract of 200–300 words to the editors by May 15, 2019. Invitations to contribute will be made by June 30, 2019. The deadline for the submission of the article will be October 30, 2019. Peer-review feedback will be sent by February 15, 2020. Submission of the revised articles is due May 15, 2020.

Editors: Working Group Arctic and Subarctic (Doris Friedrich, Markus Hirnsperger, Stefan Bauer)
E-mail: book@sub-arctic.ac.at, Website: www.sub-arctic.ac.at/book

CALL FOR PAPERS für den Arktis und Sibirien Workshop bei der DGV Tagung 2015 in Marburg

Das Koordinationsteam der RG Zirkumpolargebiete und Sibirien lädt Sie zu dem Workshop “Departures in the Circumpolar North and Siberia“ / „Aufbrüche im Zirkumpolaren Norden und Sibirien“ (Ausschreibungstext siehe unten) bei der kommenden DGV-Tagung in Marburg vom 30.9.-3.10.2015 ein.

Als Gastredner hat Mark Nuttall, University of Alberta CAN, zugesagt.

Inhaltlich orientiert sich der Workshop am übergreifenden Thema der DGV-Tagung 2015 „Krisen. Re-Formationen von Leben, Macht und Welt”. Nähere Informationen zur Tagung und die Call for Papers der anderen Workshops finden Sie unter: www.dgv-net.de.

Bitte beachten Sie, dass auf der Tagung pro Person nur ein Vortrag gehalten werden darf. Der Workshop wird in Englischer Sprache durchgeführt werden, mit der Möglichkeit Vorträge auch auf Deutsch zu halten.

Vorschläge für Präsentationen in Form von 1. einem Abstract (max. 1200 Wörter) sowie 2. einem kurzen Abstract für das Programmheft (max. 300 Wörter) senden Sie bitte bis zum 15. Februar 2015 an: zirkumpolargebiete-sibirien@dgv-net.de

Workshop-Organisation: Verena Traeger, Sophie Elixhauser, Gerti Eilmsteiner-Saxinger, Joachim Otto Habe

Über eine rege Teilnahme würden wir uns sehr freuen!

“Departures in the Circumpolar North and Siberia”

In situations of crisis established structures are breaking apart. Crises, however, also create opportunities for change and new beginnings. In the Circumpolar North, the preparation for crises involving complex decision-making and departures formed part of people’s daily lives for thousands of years. Moreover, survival strategies based on subsistence were part and parcel of a continual adaptation to changing environments and living conditions.

In the recent past, the circumpolar region has undergone far-reaching changes induced by colonialism and missionary activities leading to forced relocation and the introduction of a settled lifestyle, boarding schools and capitalist or socialist economic systems, accompanied by massive resource exploitation. Environmental pollution and climate change are becoming ever more acute, affecting subsistence and mobility practices, people’s environmental perceptions and sense of place, the stability of food security and cultural identities. Past crises have continued to affect the inhabitants over the course of many generations up until the present. A loss of indigenous traditions, languages and oral history as well as a lack of prospects, a rising propensity for violence, high suicide rates and drug abuse are some of the consequences. Across the Arctic region and Siberia various responses may be observed, and different solutions with regard to resource control, political self-determination and the recognition of indigenous rights are being developed. They reflect national sovereignty and democratic processes and show that people are ready to actively shape their future. This workshop invites broader theoretical, applied and comparative contributions as well as thematic papers and ethnographic case studies from the Circumpolar North and Siberia (presentations can be held in English or German).

„Aufbrüche im zirkumpolaren Norden und Sibirien“

In Krisensituationen brechen stabile Strukturen auf. Gleichzeitig bieten Krisen Chancen zu Veränderungen und zum Aufbruch. Im zirkumpolaren Norden waren die Vorbereitung auf Krisen und damit verbundene Entscheidungssituationen und Wendepunkte seit Jahrtausenden Teil des Lebens. Auf Subsistenz aufbauende Überlebensstrategien waren zudem stets mit der Anpassung an sich verändernde Lebensumstände (v.a. Umwelteinflüsse) verknüpft.

In der näheren Vergangenheit kam es zu besonders rapiden Veränderungen durch Kolonialismus und Missionierung und damit einhergehende Zwangsumsiedlungen und Einführung von Sesshaftigkeit, Internatsschulen sowie kapitalistischen oder sozialistischen Wirtschaftssystemen mit teils großflächigem Rohstoffabbau. Umweltverschmutzung und Klimawandel werden immer virulenter, wodurch Subsistenz- und Mobilitätspraktiken sowie Vorstellungen von Landschaft und Natur massiv beeinflusst und Nahrungssicherheit sowie kulturelle Identitäten instabil werden. Vergangene Krisen wirken über viele Generationen bis heute nach. Verlust von indigenen Traditionen, Sprachen und oral überliefertem Wissen, Perspektivenlosigkeit, steigende Gewalt, Drogenmissbrauch und hohe Suizidraten sind einige der Folgeerscheinungen. Rund um den nördlichen Polarkreis und in Sibirien beobachtet man vielseitige Reaktionen. Unterschiedlichste Lösungen in Bezug auf Ressourcenkontrolle, politische Selbstbestimmung und die Anerkennung indigener Rechte und Interessen wurden und werden entwickelt. Diese spiegeln nationalstaatliche Souveränität und Kontrolle sowie demokratische Prozesse wider und zeigen die Bereitschaft zum Aufbruch auf vielfältige Weise. Dieser Workshop lädt Beiträge ein, die sich entweder mit vergleichenden Überblicksthemen aus Theorie und Anwendung oder mit regionalspezifischen, thematischen Detailfragen aus dem zirkumpolaren Norden und Sibirien beschäftigen. Vorträge können in englischer und deutscher Sprache gehalten werden.

Call for Papers: Labour Mobility and Community Sustainability – The Impact of Extractive Industries in the Arctic

ICASS VIII, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
May 22 – 26, 2014

Mining operations and oil and gas projects in the Arctic and Sub-arctic usually take place in remote areas or offshore and primarily in distance from larger urban agglomerations. This remoteness leads to the need for a highly flexible workforce in terms of spatial as well as temporal mobility. This session brings together issues of labour mobility and community sustainability and welcomes papers touching on the following topics: 1, sketch of life-plans as well as coping with challenges and positive effects related to mobility on part of individuals; 2, changes in the community fabrics and in the ways such communities cope with the impact of labour mobility; 3, effects of industry-related in-migration to regional centers; 4, interactions of inter-regional FIFO workers with the local communities and with the environment; 5, the politics surrounding labour mobility, as well as the policies of various levels of government and of companies in relation to labour mobility; 6, the politics and economics of transportation infrastructure. The panel is fully open to the broad range of related topics raised by scholars and practitioners. In epistemological terms we aim to explore the notions of community development, hierarchies and inequality, ethical challenges and, mobility in general etc.

Session Convenors:
Gerti Eilmsteiner-Saxinger
Contact:Gertrude.Eilmsteiner-Saxinger@univie.ac.at
Remy Rouillard
Contact: rr455@cam.ac.uk

Please submit your paper proposals using the ICASS VIII submission form (http://resweb.res.unbc.ca/icass2014/ICASSVIII_Abstract_submittal_form_pdf_final.pdf) and indicate that you intend to contribute to the session on “Facing the Monstrous North”. Completed forms should be sent to IASSA Secretary, Cher Mazo (mazo@unbc.ca). The deadline for application is December 17, 2013.

You can find additional information on ICASS VIII at the conference website http://resweb.res.unbc.ca/icass2014/index.htm. Students, early career researchers, indigenous participants, and participants from Russia and other countries who have limited means to attend may apply for travel funding. Please refer to the conference website for details.

Call for Papers: Facing the Monstrous North

ICASS VIII, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
May 22 – 26, 2014

We invite contributions for a panel at the Eighth International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS VIII), taking place at the University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada on May 22 – 26, 2014.  The session “Facing the Monstrous North” follows up on its predecessor, “Imagining the Supernatural North”, held at ICASS VII in 2011. In this panel, twenty scholars examined the cultural construction of the North as an area of the supernatural, with examples and case studies ranging from ancient Greek cosmology to present-day fantasy literature. A proceedings volume based on the panel will be published in 2014.

Following on from the success of this panel, we now want to focus on a particular aspect of the supernatural North: the role of monstrosity in the construction and perception of Northernness. In different cultural contexts and discourses, the forbidding and threatening aspects of the North were embodied by monstrous beings, the giants of Old Norse mythology and the Wendigo of the Algonquian tradition being just two examples. Yet the North was not only believed to be inhabited by monsters, it was also perceived as having the ability to draw out the most monstrous and debased aspects of human nature, as the discussions of Northern diabolism in the 16th century and the morbid fascination with Northern cannibalism in the 19th century have shown.

However, a scholarly discussion of the monstrous North should not be restricted to a mere juxtaposition of grotesque beings and practices. Evidenced by its etymology, a monstrum is a signifier (Latin monere, “to warn”; monstrare, “to show”), and the septentrional monsters signify and express human attitudes to the North. As such, an in-depth study of the Monstrous North would be an important contribution to the on-going discussion on perceptions of Northernness in the humanities and social sciences.

The panel intends to examine a variety of approaches to monstrosity, and contributions from different methodological angles and different disciplines (cultural and social anthropology, history, theology, literary studies, biology, psychology, gender studies etc.) are very welcome. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

– Northern Cynocephali, Skiapodes and other wondrous races of the Greco-Roman canon
– Giants, trolls and their kin—Northern monsters in European mythology and folklore
– Wendigo, Wechuge and the monstrous North in Native American tradition
– Monstrous bodies and monstrous behavior—corporeality and deviance
– Anthropophagy in the North
– Northern witches as an embodiment of monstrous femininity
– Biological deviance in scientific (and pseudo-scientific) studies of Northern fauna and people
– Frankenstein’s Monster and the monstrous North in European literature
– The monstrous North in modern popular culture

Please submit your paper proposals using the ICASS VIII submission form (http://resweb.res.unbc.ca/icass2014/ICASSVIII_Abstract_submittal_form_pdf_final.pdf) and indicate that you intend to contribute to the session on “Facing the Monstrous North”. Completed forms should be sent to IASSA Secretary, Cher Mazo (mazo@unbc.ca), with a copy mailed to stefan.donecker@eui.eu. The deadline for application is December 17, 2013.

You can find additional information on ICASS VIII at the conference website http://resweb.res.unbc.ca/icass2014/index.htm. Students, early career researchers, indigenous participants, and participants from Russia and other countries who have limited means to attend may apply for travel funding. Please refer to the conference website for details.

For further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us!

Best regards,

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough (University of Oxford)
eleanor.rosamund@gmail.com

Danielle Cudmore (Cornell University)
dmc282@cornell.edu

Stefan Donecker (Working Group Arctic and Subarctic, Vienna)
stefan.donecker@eui.eu

The Siberian Studies Center plans to recruit three PhD candidates

to commence their work at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology on (or shortly after) 15 March 2014.

Details: http://www.eth.mpg.de/cms/en/vacancies/