The roads of the Sayan Mountains: Theorizing remoteness in eastern Siberia

Kuklina, Vera; Holland, Edward C.

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.10.008

Cited by 30 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…1. The questions of mobility have a history connecting Siberia to "remoteness," "isolation," and "backwardness" (Kuklina and Holland 2018;Schweitzer and Povoroznyuk 2019). There are assumptions cutting across disciplines and contexts that "mobility" is somehow inherently more desirable than "immobility" (see Khan 2015 andSchewel 2019 seeking to dismantle it).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…"Remoteness" is a product not only of distance but of the insurmountability, viscosity, and resistance of the space. The roads aim to diminish remoteness but, because of the state of their materiality, perpetuate the inaccessibility of the place (Kuklina and Holland 2018). See also "symbolic distance" built by Khanty reindeer herders as an act of indigenous resistance (Dudeck 2012: 92).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Malfunctioning Affective Infrastructures

Orlova

2021

Sibirica

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Smoothly functioning infrastructures are “unnoticeable”; they attract attention upon a breakdown. When infrastructure does not function as intended, it does not stop working altogether. Rather, it functions in unprecedented ways. This article argues that in the process of malfunctioning, infrastructure not only facilitates engagement, but also produces an affect. This ethnography shows how the “broken road” (razbitaia doroga) in rural postindustrial Eastern Siberia becomes a site around which belonging and relating unfold. The broken road functions as infrastructure acquiring a capacity to be affective precisely as it malfunctions. The affect that people experience in connection to the malfunctioning piece of infrastructure has components of anger and annoyance, a sense of unity, sociality, and camaraderie, as well as the feelings of belonging to a certain group.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Malfunctioning Affective Infrastructures

Orlova

2021

Sibirica

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“…Although this lack of infrastructure has helped many indigenous groups to maintain their local culture and practices, contemporary disadvantages of remoteness and immobility are poignant. Different ethnographies of Siberia detail how ordinary citizens do not always see this remoteness through a romantic lens (Kuklina and Holland 2018; Schweitzer et al 2017) but evaluate it in contrast with images of modernity furthered by Russian media.…”

Section: Infrastructure and The Promise Of Shamanist Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Promising pipelines and hydrocarbon nationalism: the sociality of unbuilt infrastructure in indigenous Siberia

Plets

2020

Soc Anthropol

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“…The missing bridge is one of the factors that allows Ust'-Nyukzha to be officially categorised as a 'remote' and 'hard-to-access region of North' (otdalennyy, trudnodostupnyy rayon Severa) (cf. Kuklina and Holland 2018). Yet, the missing bridge symbolises not only physical disconnection and separation but also the border between indigenous and non-indigenous communities representing two different cultural worlds on oppos ite sides of the river.…”

Section: Living Without the Bridge Todaymentioning

confidence: 99%

A right to remoteness? A missing bridge and articulations of indigeneity along an East Siberian railroad

Schweitzer

Povoroznyuk

2019

Soc Anthropol

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The Soviet Union and its successor states have been avid supporters of a modernisation paradigm aimed at ‘overcoming remoteness’ and ‘bringing civilisation’ to the periphery and its ‘backward’ indigenous people. The Baikal–Amur Mainline ( BAM ) railroad, built as a much‐hyped prestige project of late socialism, is a good example of that. The BAM has affected indigenous communities and reconfigured the geographic and social space of East Siberia. Our case study, an Evenki village located fairly close to the BAM , is (in)famous today for its supposed refusal to get connected via a bridge to the nearby railroad town. Some actors portray this disconnection as a sign of backwardness, while others celebrate it as the main reason for native language retention and cultural preservation. Focusing on discourses linking the notions of remoteness and cultural revitalisation, the article argues for conceptualising the story of the missing bridge not as the result of political resistance but rather as an articulation of indigeneity, which foregrounds cultural rights over more contentious political claims. Thus, the article explores constellations of remoteness and indigeneity, posing the question whether there might be a moral right to remoteness to be claimed by those who view spatial distance as a potential resource.

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The roads of the Sayan Mountains: Theorizing remoteness in eastern Siberia

Cited by 30 publications

References 26 publications

Malfunctioning Affective Infrastructures

Malfunctioning Affective Infrastructures

Promising pipelines and hydrocarbon nationalism: the sociality of unbuilt infrastructure in indigenous Siberia

A right to remoteness? A missing bridge and articulations of indigeneity along an East Siberian railroad

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