Paper short abstract:

The paper claims that the key to successful adaptation to changing climate in the Arctic is in rethinking ways of human-technology interaction and use based on the best local practices of living on-the-go. Three case studies centred on nomadic communities from the Russian North support this claim.

Paper long abstract:

In studies of people's movement/mobility remote arctic territories present a unique setting where throughout the history of human presence the challenges of nature have encouraged a strong reliance on technology and evoked the creative response to understand and overcome those challenges (Jørgensen and Sørlin 2013; Ingold 2011).

Nowadays the Arctic as a global 'melting space' with different - sometimes conflicting - interests, actors and practices involved, is undergoing rapid change accompanied by a proliferation of transport, information and communication technologies. In these conditions, northern inhabitants have come up with inventive developments in low temperature "fluid technologies" (De Laet and Mol 2000) including numerous reconfigurations of ex-situ vehicles. Also, as extreme weather conditions are tipping, i.e. when it is less possible to rely on traditions, changes in local skillscape come to light. All the above makes the Arctic a perspicuous setting to study the best examples of human responses to climate changes.

This paper presents initial insights from the ongoing project "Mobility in the Arctic: Ethnic Traditions and Technological Innovations," where the multidisciplinary team of social scientists and designers explores distinctive models of Arctic nomadism in Chukotka, Yamal and Kola Peninsulas. Participatory observations coupled with GPS-tracking and mapping revealed that, while a daily nomadic routine is now widely facilitated with mechanized/cyber technologies, the key is in people's ability to build their ways of living on-the-go every season, all over again. To elaborate on this, I introduce three case studies from the selected localities to reveal how mobility needs under environmental changes are satisfied.