A couple of days ago, I received an email from the University of Pisa informing me that my login and email will be deactivated soon. The funny thing is, I don’t even remember when or why this email account was created.
Recently, I have come across several articles, such as this one, describing non-linear career paths as “the future of work” and the key to career fulfilment. Well I do hope they have a point, as I have often viewed my own career as not exactly linear, with mixed feelings about that.
Five years ago, I was preparing to teach my first Arctic-themed course.
Spring 2020 was a difficult time for many, myself included. I had just come out of hospital quarantine after being one of the first diagnosed COVID-19 patients in my region (I’ve documented this experience here). My university was frantically switching to online teaching. For the first time in my life, I was giving lectures from my kitchen to a sea of black Zoom squares, with only the occasional student face appearing. How could I keep them interested? Why should they even care about permafrost or Indigenous identity when the world around them seemed to be collapsing?
I just returned from Denmark after ten busy days spent at Skalling Laboratory in Southwestern Denmark and at Copenhagen Business School. It was quite surreal to land back in Oulu after the full bloom of spring in Copenhagen and to feel the touch of snowflakes. Yes, we are still in (Arctic) April!
During the first week of the trip spent at Skalling Laboratory, we discussed the research outcomes of the project Towards a socially just transition in the Arctic: Exploring, theorizing and disseminating best practice in meaningful stakeholder engagement for communities (PI Karin Buhmann): an one-pager on meaningful stakeholder engagement and a collaborative scientific article. All of this with great views included.
Back in 2021, I published an essay based on my article for the Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies in the No Niin student magazine. Here is the beginning of that text, accompanied by the amazing illustrations of Zacharias Holmberg.
Anna Niia Varfolomeeva 