Research Focus Areas

Short Biography

Dr. Olga Povoroznyuk is a senior postdoctoral researcher, research leader and lecturer at the Department for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna and a research group leader at the Austrian Polar Research Institute. She also serves as an Austrian representative to the Social and Human Working Group and co-chairs the RATIC, a research initiative on infrastructure and climate, of the International Arctic Social Science Committee.

Her research interests include identity, ethnicity and indigeneity, post-socialist transformations, infrastructure and development, climate impacts and adaptation, and heritage in Siberia, Alaska, Northern Norway and other Arctic regions. Currently, she is leading the Belmont Forum project ARCA on biocultural heritage and climate adaptation in Arctic cities and is part of the EU-funded consortium project “Illuq” examining interrelations between permafrost, pollution and health. Her research has been published in a monograph about post-socialist transformations among Indigenous Evenki in Siberia, in book chapters and in journals Anthropology of East Europe Review, Ambio, Arctic Science, Communications Earth and Environment, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, Social Anthropology, Sibirica, Transfers.

Additionally, Dr. Povoroznyuk teaches social anthropology and is actively involved in interdisciplinary collaborations, co-production of knowledge with local communities and research dissemination.

Full CV as PDF

Selected Publications

Books, dissertations and special issues

• 2022 Povoroznyuk, O. Soviet Infrastructure in the Post-Soviet Era? Building a Railroad and Identity along the Baikal-Amur Mainline in East Siberia. PhD Dissertation, Vienna: University of Vienna. 221 pp. https://doi.org/10.25365/thesis.72168
• 2020 Povoroznyuk, O. and I. Krylov, eds. Zhizn’ BAMa [Life of BAM]. Vienna, Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie der Universität Wien https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1113516.
• 2020 (2021) Peter Schweitzer, Olga Povoroznyuk, Stephany MacCallum, eds. Special section “Precarious Connections: On the Promise and Menace of Railroad Projects”. Transfers 10 (2/3): 137-282 https://doi.org/10.3167/TRANS.2020.10020311
• 2020 Olga Povoroznyuk, Peter Schweitzer, and Vladimir Davydov, eds. Special issue "Sotsial’naia Zhizn’ Transportnykh Infrastruktur na Rossiskom Severe" [Social Life of Transport Infrastructures in the Russian North]. Sibirskie Istoricheskie Issledovaniia 3: 8-102 http://journals.tsu.ru/siberia/&journal_page=archive&id=2012
• 2020 Olga Povoroznyuk and Ilya Krylov, eds. Zhizn’ BAMa [Life of BAM]. Vienna, Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie der Universität Wien https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1113516
• 2016 Olga Povoroznyuk and Dmitrii Funk, eds. Special issue “Urbanizatsiya i Korennye Narody Zirkumpoliarnogo Severa [Urbanization and Indigenous Peoples of the Circumpolar North. Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie, 1: 5-70
• 2011 Olga Povoroznyuk. Zabaikal’skie evenki: sotsial’no-ekonomicheskie i kul’turnye transformatsii [Evenki of Zabaikal’skii Region: Socio-Economic and Cultural Transformation in XX-XXI Centuries]. Moscow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, RAS http://iea-ras.ru/index.php?go=Files&in=view&id=67
• 2010 Otto Habeck, Olga Povoroznyuk and Virginie Vate, ed. Special issue “Gender Shift in the North of Russia”. Anthropology of East Europe Review, 28 (2): 1-270 https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/aeer/issue/view/79

Selected articles/chapters

• 2025(2026) Povoroznyuk, O. Toward a Comparative Ethnography of Arctic Seaports Projects: Local Impacts of Expanding Maritime Infrastructure in Alaska, Norway, and Russia. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 0(0), doi:10.1177/08912416251398479
• 2026 Povoroznyuk, O., & Schweitzer, P. Beyond the Promises and Fears of Infrastructure: an Alaskan Port Expansion, Geopolitics and Local Disinterest. In N. Magnani & M. Magnani (Eds.), Arctic Silk Roads: An Anthropology of the Unbuilt, pp. 175-195. Berghahn. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781836953081
• 2025(2026) Schweitzer, P., Povoroznyuk, O., & Budka, P. Introduction to the Special Issue “Ethnographies of Infrastructure”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 0(0). doi:10.1177/08912416251398433
• 2025(2026) Schweitzer, P., Povoroznyuk, O., Budka, P., Meyer, A., Schmid, K., & Strelkovskii, N. Scenarios and Ethnography: Infrastructural Futures as Windows into the Present. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 0(0), doi:10.1177/08912416251398488.
• 2025 Povoroznyuk, O. Reconceptualizing Siberia: A Personal Account of a Changing Field. In A Fractured North – Maintaining Connections E. Kasten, I. Krupnik, and G. Fondahl, eds. Pp. 89-105, Vol. 3. Fürstenberg/Havel: Kulturstiftung Sibirien. https://bolt-dev.dh-north.org/files/dhn-pdf/fn3povoroznyk.pdf
• 2025 Davydova, E., & Povoroznyuk, O. Temporality of Arctic transport infrastructure: bridging seasonal supply in Egvekinot, Chukotka. Polar Geography, 1-20. doi:10.1080/1088937X.2025.2592137
• 2025 Gartler, S., J. Scheer, A. Meyer, K. Abass, A. Bartsch, N. Doloisio, J. Falardeau, G. Hugelius, A. Irrgang, J. Haukur Ingimundarson, L. Jungsberg, H. Lantuit, J. Nymand Larsen, R. Lodi, V. S. Martin, L. Mercer, D. Nielsen, P. Overduin, O. Povoroznyuk, A. Rautio, P. Schweitzer, N. J. Speetjens, S. Tomaškovičová, U. Timlin, J.-P. Vanderlinden, J. Vonk, L. Westerveld, and T. Ingeman-Nielsen. A transdisciplinary, comparative analysis reveals key risks from Arctic permafrost thaw. Communications Earth & Environment 6:21. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01883-w
• 2024 Povoroznyuk, O. Review of Olga Ulturgasheva & Barbara Bodenhorn (2022) “Risky Futures. Climate, Geopolitics and Local Realities in the Uncertain Circumpolar North”. New York: Berghahn. Journal of Northern Studies. Vol. 16 (1) 2024: 92-95. https://doi.org/10.36368/jns.v16i1.772
• 2023 Povoroznyuk, O. and P. Schweitzer.Ignoring Environmental Change? On Fishing Quotas and Collapsing Coastlines in Bykovskiy, Northern Sakha (Yakutiya). Ambio 52, 1211–1220 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01874-9 
• 2023 Povoroznyuk, O. and Peter Schweitzer. What Difference Does a Railroad Make? Transportation and Settlement in the BAM Region in Historical Perspective. In Siberian Worlds. John P. Ziker, Jenanne Ferguson, and Vladimir Davydov, eds. Routledge: 364-377. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429354663 
• 2022 Olga Povoroznyuk, W.F. Vincent, P. Schweitzer, R. Laptander, M. Bennett, F. Calmels, D. Sergeev, C. Arp, B. Forbes and D. A. Walker. Arctic Roads and Railways: Social and Environmental Consequences of Transport Infrastructure in the Circumpolar North. Arctic Science: 1-34 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/as-2021-0033
• 2022 Schweitzer, Peter and Olga Povoroznyuk. Infrastructural Legacies and Post-Soviet Transformations in Northern Sakha (Yakutiya), Russia. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning: 1-12 https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2022.2051455
• 2022 Sancho-Reinoso, A., G. Saxinger, C. Fink, O. Povoroznyuk, S. I. Wentzel, G. Illmeier, P. Schweitzer, N. Krasnoshtanova and V. Kuklina. Mapping Hierarchies of Mobility in the Baikal Amur Mainline Region: a Quantitative Account of Needs and Expectations Relating to Railroad Usage. Polar Geography: 1-20 https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2022.2046195
• 2021 Olga Povoroznyuk. Ambiguous Entanglements: Infrastructure, Memory and Identity in Indigenous Evenki Communities along the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Social Anthropology: 29 (2): 1-17 https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.13032
• 2020 (2021) Olga Povoroznyuk. (Re)Constructing the Baikal-Amur Mainline: Continuity and Change of Post-Socialist Infrastructure. Transfers: 10 (2/3): 250-269 https://doi.org/10.3167/TRANS.2020.10020317
• 2020 (2021) Peter Schweitzer and Olga Povoroznyuk. Introduction to the special section “Precarious Connections: On the Promise and Menace of Railroad Projects”. Transfers: 10 (2/3): 137-151 https://doi.org/10.3167/TRANS.2020.10020311
• 2020  Olga Povoroznyuk. (Post)Sovetskaia Infrastruktura: Politika Pamiati, Identichnosti i Emotsii na BAMe [(Post)Soviet Infrastructure: Politics of Memory, Identity and Emotions along the BAM]. Sibirskie Istoricheckie Issledovaniia, 2020 (3): 32-47 http://journals.tsu.ru/siberia/en/&journal_page=archive&id=2012&article_id=45509
• 2020  P. Schweitzer, O. Povoroznyuk and V. Davydov. "Vvedenie: Osobennosti Funktsionirovaniia i Antropologicheskikh Issledovanii Transportnykh Infrastruktur na Severe [Introduction: Peculiarities of Operation of and Anthropological Research on Transport Infrastructures in the North]." Sibirskie Istoricheskie Issledovaniia 3: 8-18 http://journals.tsu.ru/siberia/en/&journal_page=archive&id=2012&article_id=45507
• 2020  Olga Povoroznyuk. Sotsial'naya Dinamika na BAMe [Social Dynamics along the BAM]. In Zhizn' BAMa. O. Povoroznyuk and I. Krylov, eds. Pp. 12-17. Vienna: Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie der Universität Wien https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1113516
• 2020  Peter Schweitzer and Olga Povoroznyuk. O Poselke, Kotoromu ne Nuzhen Most: Sluchai Ust'-Niukzhi [The Village that Doesn’t Need a Bridge: the Case of Ust’-Niukzha]. In Zhizn' BAMa. O. Povoroznyuk and I. Krylov, eds. Pp. 51-56. Vienna: Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie der Universität Wien. https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1113516
• 2020  Olga Povoroznyuk. Vtoroi BAM i Perspektivy Razvitiia [The Second BAM and the Prospects for Development]. In Zhizn' BAMa. O. Povoroznyuk and I. Krylov, eds. Pp. 62-67. Vienna: Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie der Universität Wien https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1113516
• 2020  Olga Povoroznyuk and Peter Schweitzer. Epilog: Studenty na BAMe i Chto Budet posle CoRe [Epilogue: Students along the BAM and What Comes after CoRe]. In Zhizn' BAMa. O. Povoroznyuk and I. Krylov, eds. Pp. 68-70. Vienna: Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie der Universität Wien https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1113516
• 2019  Olga Povoroznyuk. The Baikal-Amur Mainline: Memories and Emotions of a Socialist Construction Project. Sibirica, Vol. 18 (1): 22-52 https://doi.org/10.3167/sib.2019.180103
• 2019  Peter Schweitzer and Olga Povoroznyuk. 2019. A Right to Remoteness? A Missing Bridge and Articulations of Indigeneity Along an East Siberian Railroad. Social Anthropology 27(2): 236-252. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12648
• 2019  Vera Kuklina, Olga Povoroznyuk and Gertrude Saxinger. Power of Rhythms – Trains and Work along the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) in Siberia. Polar Geography 42 (1): 18-33 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1088937X.2018.1564395
• 2017  Peter Schweitzer, Olga Povoroznyuk and Sigrid Schiesser. Beyond Wilderness: Towards an Anthropology of Infrastructure and the Built Environment in the Russian North.  Polar Anthropology, 7 (1): 58-85 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/2154896X.2017.1334427
• 2017  Olga Povoroznyuk. Social Dynamics and Sustainability of BAM Communities: Migration, Competition for Resources, and Intergroup Relations. In New Mobilities and Social Changes in Russia’s Arctic Regions. Marlene Laruelle, ed. Pp. 133-157. London and New York: Routledge
• 2016  Olga Povoroznyuk. “Gorodskie Aborigeny” BAMa: Industrial’nyi Bum, Technosotsial’nye Seti i Bor’ba za Resursy [“Urban Aboriginals” of the BAM Region: Industrial Boom, Technosocial Networks and Competition for Resources]. In Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie 1: 23-41
• 2015  A. Sirina, V. Davydov, O. Povoroznyuk and V. Simonova. S.M. Shirokogoroff’s book ‘Sociаl Organization of the Northern Tungus’ and its Russian Translation: History, Structure, Interpretations. Asian Ethnicity 17 (1): 30- 46 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14631369.2015.1086088
• 2014  Olga Povoroznyuk. Belonging to Land in Tura: Migrations, Reforms, and Identity Politics in Evenkiia. Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 8 (2): 33-51 http://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/159/pdf_122
• 2010    Olga Povoroznyuk, Joachim Otto Habeck, and Virginie Vate. Introduction: On the Definition, Theory, and Practice of Gender Shift in the North of Russia. The Anthropology of East Europe Review 28(2): 1-37 https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/aeer/article/view/929/1037

Publications in u:cris

Current and Recent Research Projects

• “ARCA: Biocultural Heritage in Arctic Cities: Resource for Climate Adaptation?”, Belmont Forum/Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG, Principal Investigator (2024-2027) https://ksa.univie.ac.at/en/research/research-projects/ongoing/arca/ 
• “ILLUQ: Permafrost-Pollution-Health, EU Horizon Europe project, Postdoctoral Researcher (2024-2027) https://illuq.eu/work-packages/wp5-culture
•  “INFRANORTH: Building Arctic Futures: Transport Infrastructures and Sustainable Northern Communities”, ERC advanced grant project, Research Coordinator and Study Region Lead (2021-2025) https://infranorth.eu/
• “Nunataryuk”: Permafrost Thaw and the Changing Arctic Coast, Science for Socioeconomic Adaptation”, WP9 “Mitigation and Adaptation”, EU Horizon 2020 project, PostDoc Researcher (2017-2023) https://nunataryuk.org/about-us
• “Informal Roads: The Impact of Undocumented Transportation Pathways on Remote Communities of Siberia”, NSF project, Research Advisor (2019-2023) https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1748092&HistoricalAwards=false
• “Configurations of Remoteness (CoRe): Entanglements of Humans and Transportation Infrastructure in the Region of Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM)”, Austrian Science Fund FWF project, Component Leader and PostDoc Researcher (2015-2020) https://core.univie.ac.at/

Recent Events and Talks

Panels and workshops

• O. Povoroznyuk, V. Kuklina and H. Epstein. Interdisciplinary community workshop “Planning for the Next Decade in Arctic Infrastructure Research: a contribution to ICARP IV”. Arctic Science Summit Week, Boulder, Colorado, USA, March 24, 2025
• A. Meyer, O. Povoroznyuk, V. Kuklina and P. Schweitzer. Science session “The Challenges of Arctic Infrastructure”. Arctic Science Summit Week, Boulder, Colorado, USA, March 26, 2025
• S. Krist, E. Davydova, O. Povoroznyuk and P. Schweitzer. History of an Opening and Dealing with a Closure: Possible Ways of Anthropological Research on Russia Today. Vienna Anthropology Days, Vienna, September 23, 2024
• O. Povoroznyuk and M. Landauer. Arctic Sustainability Revisited: Mixing Methods to Study Communities in Transition. Vienna Anthropology Days, Vienna, September 25, 2024
• O. Povoroznyuk and P. Schweitzer. Infrastructure in the Russian Arctic. North Pacific Arctic Conference. Honolulu, USA, August, 23, 2024
• O. Povoroznyuk and H. Epstein. Workshop “Towards Sustainable Infrastructure: Environmental, Technological, and Societal Impacts of Development in the Arctic”. Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW). Vienna, February 20, 2023 
• V. Kuklina, O. Povoroznyuk and O. Zaslavskaya. Science session ““Arctic InfraScapes”: Engaging Communities, Environment and Infrastructures Through Arts, Science, Local and Indigenous Knowledge”, ASSW. Vienna, February 21, 2023
• P. Schweitzer and O. Povoroznyuk. Arctic Transport Infrastructures and Sustainable Communities. Arctic Circle, Reykjavik, October 15, 2022
• O. Povoroznyuk and P. Schweitzer. Infrastructure and Built Environment in the Anthropocene. Vienna Anthropology Days, Vienna, September 28, 2022
• P. Schweitzer, O. Povoroznyuk. What is the Future of Anthropological Collaboration with Russia? Vienna Anthropology Days, September 27, 2022
• P. Schweitzer, O. Povoroznyuk. Workshop „Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Advancing Sustainable Arctic Infrastructure” at Arctic Science Summit Week, Tromso, March 26, 2022
• M. Bennett, P. Schweitzer, O. Povoroznyuk. Undermining the Earth? Infrastructural challenges to sustainability at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, online, February 25, 2022
• P. Schweitzer, O. Povoroznyuk, T. Heleniak. Conference “The Global Economics and Geopolitics of Arctic Transport Infrastructures”. InfraNorth project workshop, University of Vienna, Vienna and online, September 23-24, 2021
• P. Schweitzer, O. Povoroznyuk, G. Saxinger, S. Wentzel, G. Illmeier, A. Sancho-Reinoso. The Promise of Arctic Infrastructural Development: Connectivity, Mobility, Prosperity. X International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences, online, June 15 and 20, 2021
• J. Pierce, S. Walker, P. Schweitzer and Olga Povoroznyuk. IASC RATIC/T-MOSAiC Workshop “Sharing Best Practices in Research on Infrastructure in the Arctic”, Arctic Science Summit Week, online, March 21, 2021
• O. Povoroznyuk, W. Vincent and F. Camels. Special session “Northern Roads and Railways: Social and Environmental Effects of Northern Transport Infrastructure”, Arctic Science Summit Week, online, March 25, 2021
• O. Povoroznyuk, W. Vincent and F. Camels. Special session “Roads and Rail: Social and Environmental Effects of Northern Transport Infrastructure” at the Arctic Change conference, online, December 8, 2020
• O. Povoroznyuk and A. Meyer. Co-chairing session "Changing Cryospheres I: Global Warming in Polar and Alpine Settings" at the Vienna Anthropology Days (VANDA) conference, Vienna/online, September 30, 2020

Talks

• O. Povoroznyuk. Biocultural Heritage and Climate Adaptation in Arctic Cities. Alliance for Research on Cultural Heritage in Europe Conference. Vienna, March 4, 2025
• O. Povoroznyuk. Arctic Coastal Communities and Global Connectivity: Towards an Ethnography of Maritime Infrastructure. Guest lecture, Ljubljana University, May 16, 2023
• O. Povoroznyuk. Social and Cultural Dimensions of Transport Infrastructures in the North:
  Towards Community-Based Research. Guest presentation, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Luxenburg, May 6, 2021
• O. Povoroznyuk, Peter Schweitzer. Social and Cultural Dimensions of Transport Infrastructures in the North (examples from CoRe, Nunataryk and InfraNorth). Guest presentation, Aalborg University, December 3, 2021

Presentations

• O. Povoroznyuk. Between Extraction and the Green Transition: Infrastructuring Sustainable Arctic Communities? Conference “Beyond Infrastructure”, Vienna, September 24, 2025
• N. Strelkovskii, P. Budka, N. Komendantova, A. Meyer, O. Povoroznyuk, E. Rovenskaya, A. Sancho-Reinoso, K. Schmid, P. Schweitzer. From global trends to local realities: A multi-scale scenario-building methodology for community infrastructure planning. Conference “Beyond Infrastructure”, Vienna, September 24, 2025
• O. Povoroznyuk. Reconfiguring Infrastructures, Revisioning Futures: The InfraNorth Scenario Workshops in Kirkenes. Arctic Science Summit Week, Boulder, Colorado, USA, March 26, 2025
• V. Miles, V. Kuklina, O. Povoroznyuk, O. Kisseleva. GIS Inventory of Green Spaces for Climate Adaptation in the Urban Arctic: Engaging Science, Community, and Arts. Arctic Science Summit Week, Boulder, Colorado, USA, March 26, 2025
• O. Povoroznyuk. Maritime Infrastructure: Global Climate Change and Connectivity in a Divided Arctic. AAA Annual Meeting November 23, 2024, Tampa, USA 
• O. Povoroznyuk. Revisiting Post-Soviet Anthropological Research in the Russian North. Vienna Anthropology Days, Vienna, September, 23, 2024
• O. Povoroznyuk, A. Meyer, P. Schweitzer. Reconfiguring Infrastructures, Revisioning Futures: The InfraNorth Scenario Workshops in Kirkenes. Vienna Anthropology Days, Vienna, September, 25, 2024
• O. Povoroznyuk. Temporality and Sociality of Infrastructure: seaports in Alaska, Norway, and Russia. Vienna Anthropology Days, Vienna, September, 25, 2024
• O. Povoroznyuk. Infrastructuring Arctic Coastal Communities: A Comparative Ethnography of Seaport Projects in Alaska, Norway, and Russia. InfraNorth workshop “Ethnography Beyond the Case Study: Possibilities and Limitations of Comparison“. Stockholm, September, 10, 2024 
• O. Povoroznyuk. Reconfiguring Connectivity, Transport Infrastructure and Sustainable Futures in a Divided Arctic (the case of Kirkenes). Arctic Congress. Bodø, May 30, 2024
• O. Povoroznyuk. Arctic Coastal Communities and Global Connectivity: Towards an Ethnography of Maritime Infrastructure. InfraNorth workshop “Ethnographies of Infrastructure“, Vienna, May, 22, 2023
• O. Povoroznyuk. Report on the IASC RATIC workshop „Towards Sustainable Infrastructure: Environmental, Technological, and Societal Impacts of Development in the Arctic”. ASSW, Edinburgh and online, March 22, 2024
• O. Povoroznyuk, P. Schweitzer. Local Impacts and Perceptions of Environmental Change and Permafrost Thaw in Northern Sakha (Yakutiya), Russia. Permafrost Thaw Workshop, Longyearbyen, Norway, March, 16, 2023
• O. Povoroznyuk, P. Schweitzer, N. Strelkovskii. Building Arctic Futures: Infrastructure Projects and Local Scenarios. ASSW, Vienna, February 20, 2023
• O. Povoroznyuk. From the Frontline of Supply to the Margins of the State: Coastal Community Infrastructures in Northern Sakha (Yakutiya), Russia. Association of American Anthropologists Meeting, Seattle, November 12, 2022