Universität Wien
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240531 SE MM3 Building and Shaping Anthropocene Landscapes in the Arctic and Beyond (2026S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Continuous assessment of course work

Participation at first session is obligatory!

The lecturer can invite students to a grade-relevant discussion about partial achievements. Partial achievements that are obtained by fraud or plagiarized result in the non-evaluation of the course (entry 'X' in certificate). The plagiarism software 'Turnitin' will be used.
The use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) for the attainment of partial achievements is only allowed if explicitly requested by the course instructor.
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Friday 06.03. 13:15 - 16:30 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 18.03. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Friday 27.03. 13:15 - 16:30 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
  • Friday 17.04. 13:15 - 16:30 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Friday 24.04. 13:15 - 16:30 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
  • Friday 08.05. 13:15 - 16:30 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
  • Friday 12.06. 13:15 - 16:30 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This seminar examines a broad range of infrastructures—from large-scale built environments to small-scale local initiatives—within the context of the Anthropocene. The primary focus will be on rural regions, with many examples drawn from Arctic ethnographic case studies, complemented by comparative material from other parts of the world.
The seminar’s theoretical orientation centres on relations between humans, non-humans, and materiality (Appel et al., 2018; Ingold 2000, 2017, 2021). Through a combination of theoretical readings and empirical case analyses, we will explore how infrastructural relations shape the everyday lives of local communities and what kinds of local initiatives are emerging across diverse regions.
We will discuss how climate, funding structures, and political decisions are connected with various infrastructures, highlighting how material culture shapes power, inequality, and local resilience. We will also consider how infrastructures reflect broader socio-political realities shaped by colonialism, post- and green colonialism, gender, race, and economic policies. Rather than viewing infrastructure and the built environment as merely technical systems, we analyse them as relations through which state responsibilities, exclusions, and structural inequalities become visible.
Through seminar discussions, individual and collaborative presentations, and targeted readings, this course invites participants to engage with key debates in anthropological infrastructure studies, local initiatives and relational theory. In doing so, it aims to deepen understanding of the entanglements between material and social worlds in the era of the Anthropocene.

Assessment and permitted materials

The overall grade will be based on participation in class discussions (10%), one individual presentation (20%) one group presentation (based on the required reading assignment) (20%) , and a written essay at the end of the semester (50%), which includes required course readings. For each session, we will collectively read one article or book chapter.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

All assignments are obligatory

Examination topics

Oral and Written Assignments

Reading list

Recommended Reading (will be updated during the course)

Appel, H., Anand, N., & Gupta, A. (2018). Introduction: Temporality, Politics, and the Promise of Infrastructure. In N. Anand, A. Gupta, & H. Appel (Eds.), The Promise of Infrastructure (pp. 1–38). Duke University Press.

Bennett, Mia M. 2021. “Ruins of the Anthropocene: The Aesthetics of Arctic Climate Change.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111 (3): 921–931. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1835457.

Eriksen, T. H. (2022). Afterword: Some Unintentional Consequences of Infrastructure. In J. Valkonen, V. Kinnunen, H. Huilaja, & T. Loikkanen (Eds.), Infrastructural Being: Rethinking Dwelling in a Naturecultural World (pp. 199–208). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15827-8_9

Gansauer, G., Lilius, J., & Adams, R.-M. (2025). Affective politics and neoliberal subjectivities in ‘left behind’ places: Counter-narrating regional decline within/from Finland’s ‘Capital of Pessimism.’ Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 18. https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544251317099

Gupta, A. (2018). The Future in Ruins: Thoughts on the Temporality of Infrastructure. In N. Anand, A. Gupta, & H. Appel (Eds.), The Promise of Infrastructure (pp. 62–79). Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478002031-004

Ingold, T. (2000). The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203466025

Klinger, J., Bennett, M., Adams, R.-M., & Armstrong, E. (2023). The crowded and empty Arctic: Examining research practices, spatial imaginaries, and infrastructures in Kiruna, Sweden. Lychnos: Årsbok För Idé- Och Lärdomshistoria. https://doi.org/10.48202/25085
Larkin, B. (2013). The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol 42, 42, 327–343. https://doi.org/DOI 10.1146/annurev-anthro-092412-155522

Schweitzer, P. (2017). Polar anthropology, or why we need to study more than humans in order to understand people. The Polar Journal, 7(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/2154896X.2017.1351783

Varnajot, A and Saarinen J (2022) “Emerging Post-Arctic Tourism in the Age of Anthropocene: Case Finnish Lapland”, Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 22, no. 4-5:357-371. p. 357.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 27.07.2026 09:27