Symbolic boundaries in the borderless space: mobility and telecommunication in Svalbard

European University at St. Petersburg, Russia

The Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is a territory with unique natural setting, history and legal status, being a site of cohabitation for Norwegian and Russian communities. These communities, though having no administrative boundaries between themselves, are separated by nature, culture and politics; in this study, such separation is described through the concept of remoteness. The study, based on extensive fieldwork conducted during 2013–2016, explores two main features of Svalbard remoteness, namely mobility and telecommunication. The main emphasis is made on different approaches used by Russian and Norwegian communities. Using the fieldwork data, I make an attempt to describe the general mobility and telecommunication patterns for Svalbard. A comparative approach to such description is used, with main focus on the Russian community and supporting data from the Norwegian one. The main finding of the study is that mobility and telecommunication in Svalbard are inextricably linked to one another, and that physical and social dimensions of these two concepts also have a deep connection. A uniform concept of communication is suggested for describing these aspects of Svalbard life. Another finding of the study is that the use of communication has high importance for historical and political discourse about the archipelago.

Andrian Vlakhov is a Junior Research Fellow at the Centre for Arctic Social Studies, European University at St. Petersburg. Having his background in linguistics and social anthropology, he focuses on the Russian–Nordic cross-border relations and Arctic industrial anthropology. His upcoming doctoral thesis deals with the sustainable development of the Russian Svalbard community.

https://eu.spb.ru/en/arctic-social-sciences/staff/15810-a-vlakhov