Papers by Alexandra Meyer
A transdisciplinary, comparative analysis reveals key risks from Arctic permafrost thaw, 2025
Permafrost thaw poses diverse risks to Arctic environments and livelihoods. Understanding the eff... more Permafrost thaw poses diverse risks to Arctic environments and livelihoods. Understanding the effects of permafrost thaw is vital for informed policymaking and adaptation efforts. Here, we present the consolidated findings of a risk analysis spanning four study regions: Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norway), the Avannaata municipality (Greenland), the Beaufort Sea region and the Mackenzie River Delta (Canada), and the Bulunskiy District of the Sakha Republic (Russia). Local stakeholders’ and scientists’ perceptions shaped our understanding of the risks as dynamic, socionatural phenomena involving physical processes, key hazards, and societal consequences. Through an inter- and transdisciplinary risk analysis based on multidirectional knowledge exchanges and thematic network analysis, we identified five key hazards of permafrost thaw. These include infrastructure failure, disruption of mobility and supplies, decreased water quality, challenges for food security, and exposure to diseases and contaminants. The study’s novelty resides in the comparative approach spanning different disciplines, environmental and societal contexts, and the transdisciplinary synthesis considering various risk perceptions.
Saville S, Brode-Roger D, Albert M, et al. Social Sciences and Beyond in the Arctic. ECO Magazine... more Saville S, Brode-Roger D, Albert M, et al. Social Sciences and Beyond in the Arctic. ECO Magazine . 2020;(SI Polar 2020):126-129
Das Anthropozän- Perspektiven aus der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie und ein Fallbeispiel aus der hohen Arktis, 2020
Der Begriff Anthropozän kommt zwar ursprünglich aus der Geologie, drückt aber einen in
der Kult... more Der Begriff Anthropozän kommt zwar ursprünglich aus der Geologie, drückt aber einen in
der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie zentralen Gedanken aus: die Verschränkung von Kultur
und Natur. Im Anthropozän rücken Themenfelder wie Umwelt und Infrastruktur erneut
in das Blickfeld der Anthropologie, und sie stellt sich neuen Fragestellungen etwa bezüglich
der gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen und Auffassungen des globalen Klimawandels. Der
anthropogen verursachte Klimawandel und die damit einhergehenden Herausforderungen
lassen sich mit der modernen westlichen Dichotomie Natur/Kultur schwer begreifen.
Das Anthropozän birgt auf theoretischer Ebene somit auch eine Chance, Mensch-Umwelt-
Beziehungen neu zu denken.
Der Beitrag zielt darauf ab, kultur- und sozialanthropologische Perspektiven auf die
Mensch-Umwelt-Dichotomie und auf das Anthropozän zu erläutern. Anhand eines Fallbeispiels aus Longyearbyen, Svalbard, in der hohen Arktis, wird aufgezeigt, wie im Anthropozän die Dichotomie Mensch/Umwelt aufgehoben wird und die gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen und Auffassungen des Auftauens der Kryosphäre – Wasser in seinen unterschiedlichen gefrorenen Zuständen – dargelegt.
Keywords: Anthropozän, Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Klimawandel, Arktis, Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen
Polar Record, 2022
The archipelago of Svalbard is a good example of an Arctic locale undergoing rapid changes on mul... more The archipelago of Svalbard is a good example of an Arctic locale undergoing rapid changes on multiple levels. This contribution is a joint effort of three anthropologists with up-to-date ethnographic data from Svalbard (mostly Longyearbyen and Barentsburg) to frame and interpret interconnected changes. The processes impacting Svalbard are related to issues such as geopolitical interests, and increasing pressure by the Norwegian government to exercise presence and control over the territory. Our interpretations are based on a bottom-up approach, drawing on experiences living in the field. We identify three great ruptures in recent years – the avalanche of 2015, the gradual phasing out of mining enterprises and the COVID-19 pandemic – and show how they further impact, accelerate or highlight preexisting vulnerabilities in terms of socio-economic development, and environmental and climate change. We discuss the shift from coal mining to the industries of tourism, education, and resear...
Polar Record
Longyearbyen, Svalbard, has become showcase of Arctic climate change. However, we know little abo... more Longyearbyen, Svalbard, has become showcase of Arctic climate change. However, we know little about how these changes are dealt with locally. This article aims to fill this gap by examining climate change impacts and adaptation in a non-Indigenous “community of experts” and sets out to 1) describe observed changes and perceived societal impacts of climate change and 2) discuss adaptation measures and related understandings of adaptation. The research consists of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with planners, engineers, architects, scientists, construction workers and local politicians. The research finds that climate change impacts the built environment in Longyearbyen, and that there is vast awareness of and concern related to these impacts. There is a substantial knowledge base for adaptation, and a special trust in scientific knowledge, skills and experts. The interview partners consider adaptation as necessary and feasible. Adaptation is understood and implemented as techn...
Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography
When Europe shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, Longyearbyen, the main settleme... more When Europe shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, Longyearbyen, the main settlement of Svalbard, was moving from a coal-based economy to one based on science and tourism. The remote location of the Svalbard archipelago in the High Arctic makes it an isolated, secure haven from the chaos worldwide. But this renders its population vulnerable should the virus come since there are neither facilities to care for the sick nor other nearby communities to help in case of need. Svalbard, with its special territorial status, is in a unique geopolitical situation where people are free to come and go. Longyearbyen is an inherently transient space with a highly mobile population. Based on interview narratives of participants' lived experiences in Longyearbyen during the pandemic (both in-person and online), this paper explores how forced and encouraged (im)mobilities impacted their individual life choices during the pandemic. Participants' stories revealed systemic inequalities and vulnerabilities in Longyearbyen that were heightened and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. By combining minor theory with politics of mobility, this paper aims to add to the discussion within mobilities studies on how the personal, emotional responses to these situations are linked to decisions about mobility.
‘No longer solid’: perceived impacts of permafrost thaw in three Arctic communities, 2022
Permafrost characterizes ground conditions in most of the Arctic and is increasingly thawing. Whi... more Permafrost characterizes ground conditions in most of the Arctic and is increasingly thawing. While environmental consequences of permafrost thaw are under intense scrutiny by natural and life sciences, social sciences' studies on local communities' perceptions of change is thus far limited. This hinders the development of targeted adaptation and mitigation measures. We present the results of a survey on communities' perceptions of permafrost thaw, with a focus on subsistence activities, carried out between 2019 and 2020 in Aklavik (Northwest Territories, Canada), Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norway), and Qeqertarsuaq (Qeqertalik Municipality, Greenland). Results show that the majority of the 237 participants are well aware of the consequences of permafrost thaw on the landscape as well as the connection between increased air temperature and permafrost thaw. The majority perceive permafrost thaw negatively although they do not perceive it as a challenge in all life domains. Permafrost thaw is perceived as a major cause for challenges in subsistence activities, infrastructure, and the physical environment. Different perceptions within the three study communities suggests that perceptions of thaw are not solely determined by physical changes but also influenced by factors related to the societal context, including discourses of climate change, cultural background, and land use.
Sustainability, 2021
Thawing permafrost creates risks to the environment, economy and culture in Arctic coastal commun... more Thawing permafrost creates risks to the environment, economy and culture in Arctic coastal communities. Identification of these risks and the inclusion of the societal context and the relevant stakeholder involvement is crucial in risk management and for future sustainability, yet the dual dimensions of risk and risk perception is often ignored in conceptual risk frameworks. In this paper we present a risk framework for Arctic coastal communities. Our framework builds on the notion of the dual dimensions of risk, as both physically and socially constructed, and it places risk perception and the coproduction of risk management with local stakeholders as central components into the model. Central to our framework is the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration. A conceptual model and processual framework with a description of successive steps is developed to facilitate the identification of risks of thawing permafrost in a collaboration between local communities and scientists. O...
Urban Development in Longyearbyen, Svalbard: Dealing with Local Challenges in a Town that Serves as a Tool for Svalbard Policies, 2022
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Sep 26, 2021
The Svalbard archipelago, as well as the Arctic in general, have long been portrayed as pristine ... more The Svalbard archipelago, as well as the Arctic in general, have long been portrayed as pristine nature, harsh and hostile environment, an uninhabitable space for human beings. In reality the Arctic is home to four million people whose everyday lives have been fast-changing and have been impacted by not only the physical changes but also other broader discourses such as geopolitics, scientific research, sustainability and not to forget global crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic. All these myths, representations, and entangled histories and realities lead to the following questions: How have some places, not others, come to be inhabited? What makes a place inhabitable, and for whom? Who has the right to define that? And how do we view different approaches of inhabiting on different scales? Drawing on both conceptual and empirical materials, this article is a joint effort of us as a group of social scientists who are conducting or have conducted research on Svalbard. 1 By telling stories from our respective experiences and backgrounds, we wish to illustrate a more nuanced picture of how economic, geopolitical, scientific, sociocultural, and environmental concerns are always interconnected, and more importantly, how different forms of (in)voluntary inhabiting and uninhabiting in Svalbard, in particular in Longyearbyen and Svea, can possibly lead to or have led to various makings and becomings.
With the recognition of agriculture's multifunctionality – i.e. the notion that farming produ... more With the recognition of agriculture's multifunctionality – i.e. the notion that farming produces a set of environmental, cultural and social values in addition to food and fibers – European agriculture has moved beyond being merely a sector of primary production to including the provision of non-food goods and services since the 1980s. This raises questions regarding the changing economic role of agriculture, its function in society and the farmer's role. Embedded in these discussions, this Master's thesis explores contemporary summer farming – the seasonal vertical movement of livestock – in Valdres, Norway. Based upon ethnographic fieldwork on several summer farms in Valdres, it examines the regional political and economic context of summer farming, analyzes summer farming as an economic process and explores the farmers' perspectives on summer farming and its landscape. The study concludes that while the continuation of productivism in agrarian policies has led to ...
Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 2022
Dieser Artikel behandelt das Thema der Nähe zum Forschungsfeld im Kontext einer dreiwöchigen Feld... more Dieser Artikel behandelt das Thema der Nähe zum Forschungsfeld im Kontext einer dreiwöchigen Feldforschung aus einer weiblichen und einer männlichen Perspektive. Dabei wird aufgezeigt, wie diese persönliche Voraussetzungen sich auf Gefühle der
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Papers by Alexandra Meyer
der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie zentralen Gedanken aus: die Verschränkung von Kultur
und Natur. Im Anthropozän rücken Themenfelder wie Umwelt und Infrastruktur erneut
in das Blickfeld der Anthropologie, und sie stellt sich neuen Fragestellungen etwa bezüglich
der gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen und Auffassungen des globalen Klimawandels. Der
anthropogen verursachte Klimawandel und die damit einhergehenden Herausforderungen
lassen sich mit der modernen westlichen Dichotomie Natur/Kultur schwer begreifen.
Das Anthropozän birgt auf theoretischer Ebene somit auch eine Chance, Mensch-Umwelt-
Beziehungen neu zu denken.
Der Beitrag zielt darauf ab, kultur- und sozialanthropologische Perspektiven auf die
Mensch-Umwelt-Dichotomie und auf das Anthropozän zu erläutern. Anhand eines Fallbeispiels aus Longyearbyen, Svalbard, in der hohen Arktis, wird aufgezeigt, wie im Anthropozän die Dichotomie Mensch/Umwelt aufgehoben wird und die gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen und Auffassungen des Auftauens der Kryosphäre – Wasser in seinen unterschiedlichen gefrorenen Zuständen – dargelegt.
Keywords: Anthropozän, Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Klimawandel, Arktis, Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen
der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie zentralen Gedanken aus: die Verschränkung von Kultur
und Natur. Im Anthropozän rücken Themenfelder wie Umwelt und Infrastruktur erneut
in das Blickfeld der Anthropologie, und sie stellt sich neuen Fragestellungen etwa bezüglich
der gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen und Auffassungen des globalen Klimawandels. Der
anthropogen verursachte Klimawandel und die damit einhergehenden Herausforderungen
lassen sich mit der modernen westlichen Dichotomie Natur/Kultur schwer begreifen.
Das Anthropozän birgt auf theoretischer Ebene somit auch eine Chance, Mensch-Umwelt-
Beziehungen neu zu denken.
Der Beitrag zielt darauf ab, kultur- und sozialanthropologische Perspektiven auf die
Mensch-Umwelt-Dichotomie und auf das Anthropozän zu erläutern. Anhand eines Fallbeispiels aus Longyearbyen, Svalbard, in der hohen Arktis, wird aufgezeigt, wie im Anthropozän die Dichotomie Mensch/Umwelt aufgehoben wird und die gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen und Auffassungen des Auftauens der Kryosphäre – Wasser in seinen unterschiedlichen gefrorenen Zuständen – dargelegt.
Keywords: Anthropozän, Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Klimawandel, Arktis, Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen