GEOG Seminar: Vera Kuklina (Hybrid)

Community-Based Research for Mapping Infrastructure and Its Interactions with the Environment in the Arctic

Join us at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 29, for a special seminar with Vera Kuklina, Indigenous scholar, Arctic and cold regions expert.

The Arctic is undergoing rapid environmental changes that present unique challenges for infrastructure, its maintenance, and overall resilience. As the primary users and receptors of infrastructure development, Arctic communities have long been observers and stewards of transforming local ecosystems. Therefore, community-based research is essential for more accurately mapping both existing and planned infrastructure, while addressing the complex interactions between built environments and the natural Arctic landscape. By engaging local communities as partners in formulating research questions, collecting data, and sharing knowledge, this approach ensures that research remains grounded in local realities and incorporates Indigenous perspectives.

This presentation highlights case studies where community-driven research has led to the co-production of place-specific and theoretically grounded knowledge on infrastructure, such as informal roads in the Siberian taiga; green, blue, and white spaces, and biocultural heritage in Arctic cities; and frozen infrastructure in Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions.

Furthermore, it discusses how culturally responsive and inclusive academic infrastructure—attuned to diverse ways of knowing—can facilitate knowledge sharing and co-creation at international events, such as the Arctic Science Summit Week and the UN Climate Change Conference.

About the Speaker
Vera Kuklina is a human geographer with research interests that include urbanization of Indigenous people, traditional land use, social-ecological technological systems, cultural geographies of infrastructure, and remoteness. Her research is based on field studies and collaborations with local and Indigenous communities in the Baikal region, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), northern Mongolia, and Alaska. Dr. Kuklina leads, co-leads, and participates in the research projects funded by the National Science Foundation and the Research Council of Norway.  She also co-leads an ArtSLInK initiative, focused on the convergence of science, arts, and place-based local and Indigenous Knowledge systems.

For the Zoom link, contact Renata Johnson at rejohns@umd.edu.