The first thing flying into Kangerlussuaq, Greenland reminds us that this is 'properly' Arctic. For most people who call the North home, the Arctic is further up North from where they live. But for the incomers, the Arctic is appealing! Usually we associate Inuit livelihood with hunting, both terrestrial and sea-mammal, beautiful material culture, handicrafts …
Continue reading Greenland’s South: Inuit pastoralists in a rapidly changing Arctic environment
collectivism and individualism in the coastal fishing after 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami This was once Arahama - the vibrant fishing suburb of Sendai, right by the coast. After the 2011 Tsunami the entire community was not re-built. Nature takes it back. Picture from Oct 3, 2013 (Florian Stammler) Our long term friend and collaborator …
Continue reading Disaster anthropology talk 17 May 10 a.m: The role of culture in crisis:
Our friend Eduard Khudi and his wife Valentina sent these photos today, of the first reindeer calf of the year, born the 27th April in the Yamal tundra in the camp of Sergei Serotetto's son Lev. The big wave of calving has not started yet, but since then around 5-7 calves have appeared in this …
We all know that the current situation with Russia and Ukraine is rapidly changing a lot of the ways and values on which we have been relying in the past decades for our everyday lives. But recently I was surprised when discussing the impacts with Karoliina Majuri, a reindeer herder and colleague here at Lapland …
Continue reading The influence of world politics in the forest of Northern Lapland
A word of congratulations to the freshly baked Doctor Ayonghe Akonwi Nebasifu! He just now defended successfully his PhD dissertation with the title Knowledge Integration in Co-management: A Study on the People of the Mount Cameroon National Park. Thank you to Sabaheta Ramcilovik Suominen for a great 3 hour examination too. fresh Doctor Ayonghe Akonwi …
Continue reading New expert in knowledge integration: congrats!
Most people on our planet make their life choices mostly about in which settlement, country, climate etc they want to live. But the remaining nomads in the Arctic (unfortunately there are not that many any more) have this additional decision to make whether they bring up their children out on the tundra or in a …
Continue reading Nomadic or sedentary life: difficult choice?
First of all, happy new year to all our readers, followers, and a big thank you to all those who contribute to making this blog a success. This is my first ever new years trip to the Russian Arctic. Flying from Finland to Yamal, one of the first visible impressions is the extensive use of …
So-called 'ghost towns' attract people in a certain sense, the ailing beauty of their ruins and the atmosphere of silence that is so different from the silence that you experience when you are somewhere out on the tundra in the Arctic in a snow-desert. But when I recently walked with a friend through an abandoned …
Continue reading Spirituality of abandoned Arctic Infrastructure
русский текст ниже One of the world's most respected reindeer nomads, 1954-2021, mourning for a friend (all photos in this post © by Florian Stammler) Один из самых уважаемых оленводов , друг ушёл из жизни The news from the tundra was a shock: last year we celebrated Sergei Serotetto's 66th birthday together in his chum …
Continue reading Reindeer nomadism as profession, lifestyle, passion and love: Sergei Serotetto
This is dedicated to a long term and very good friend, Konstantin Ochepkov, who passed away in Siberia way too early yesterday, just a little over 50 years old. His body was not able to retain victory over covid-19. I have known Kostya (how most of us called him) since I first came to Yamal …
Continue reading Sudden loss of a great research facilitator
Arctic Anthropology 