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
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?
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 winter and spring we hear again disastrous news from sudden temperature rises and falls, leading to thick ice-crusts on reindeer pastures that block reindeer's access to their pastures. While the most famous of these events happened in 2014 in the Centre of the Yamal Peninsula, West Siberia, the phenomenon is known probably to reindeer …
Continue reading Rain on snow – how do people and reindeer learn to survive?
Roza Laptander's public dissertation defense took place online on the 29th of April 2020 at 10 a.m. Finnish time. "In Christianity, at the beginning was the word - in Nenets, at the beginning was silence" (Andrey Golovnev during Roza's defense). How beautifully put by Andrey Golovnev! The director of the Kunstkamera acted as opponent in …
30 Oct, 14:00, Rovaniemi, Arktikum, 2nd floor, coffee room. In this Wednesday Afternoon Coffee Chat (WACC) Florian Stammler will have a dialogue session with Aytalina Ivanova from Yakutsk reflecting on Arctic research agendas. What was supposed to be the first trip in a new multi-party consortium on scenarios of a changing Arctic became an example …
Continue reading Future Arctic Ecosystems revisited or reindeer herding at the verge of extinction?
The University of Kiel, Germany announces a PhD Position “Human-reindeer interactions in contemporary and ancient Siberian communities” in the fields of Cultural Anthropology, Zooarchaeology, Archaeology The term is fixed for a period of 3,5 years (42 months).Reindeer are intensively herded as a means of subsistence and symbolic identity in many circumpolar societies, but, unique for …
Continue reading New PhD Position at the University of Kiel in Human Reindeer Interactions
Arctic Anthropology 