Budka, P. (2024). Notes on the transformation of a railway in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Paper at Vienna Anthropology Days 2024, Vienna, Austria: University of Vienna, 23-25 September. Co-chairing of Panels “Building Tomorrow: Exploring Infrastructures and Futurities”, 25 September.
Introduction
On a chilly day in February 2022, I boarded the Via Rail Canada train in Winnipeg for my inaugural journey to Churchill, a community of 870 individuals situated at the Hudson Bay in Northern Manitoba, Canada, which is inaccessible by road. I was the only passenger in the sleeper car for this 48-hour journey. Four other passengers were siting up front in the economy car. A train attendant told me that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reduced the number of people using public transportation, particularly during the winter months when ice roads offer a cost-effective travel option in Manitoba. Leaving the province’s capital behind, we rode along the endless fields of grain of Canada’s prairie, now all covered in ice and snow. From time to time, the train stopped. One reason for that was to let freight trains pass. The railway companies always give priority to freight transportation. “That’s where the business is,” the train attendant explained during one of those stops.
Train station in Churchill, MB, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
In a statement written by the Executive Committee of the European Association of Social Anthropologists on “Why anthropology matters” in 2015, comparison is defined as a “systematic search” for sociocultural similarities and differences, with the objective of developing “general insights into the nature of society and human existence” (EASA, 2015). Together with ethnography and contextualization, comparison constitutes a fundamental element of the “anthropological triangle,” as defined by Roger Sanjek (1998, p. 193). This term refers to the operational system utilized by anthropologists to acquire and use ethnographic data in the process of writing ethnographies.
Marina in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
Budka, P. (2024). Transport infrastructure and community development in Churchill: Findings from future scenario workshops. Presentation at Churchill Barber Symposium 2024, Churchill, Canada: University of Manitoba et al., 28-29 August.
Abstract
The Town of Churchill, a community of 870 people on the Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba, is unique in terms of transport infrastructure. It is inaccessible by road but it is home to the only deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean that is directly linked to the North American rail system. The community’s relatively large airport, which was constructed due to the former military presence, has become a key component of the growing tourism industry in the “Polar Bear Capital of the World”. The town’s history is closely intertwined with these infrastructures, and they have played a significant role in its growth and development. But what does the future hold for Churchill? What are the implications of the transfer of ownership and operation of the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill to a consortium of local communities for the town and the region? How might climate change and environmental crises impact the community, its economy and infrastructure? What could a sustainable Churchill look like? To address such questions and related future scenarios, the European Research Council (ERC) project InfraNorth, with the support of the Town of Churchill, organized two future scenario workshops in August 2023. These events brought together locals as well as transport professionals to discuss, evaluate, and outline a variety of infrastructure scenarios. In this presentation, we will discuss aspects of the planning and organization of the workshops, as well as selected results.
Poster visualizations for future scenario workshop in Churchill, MB, Canada (Illustrations by Nickia McIvor). (Photo by Philipp Budka)
This paper explores transport infrastructures, their temporalities and entanglements in the Subarctic town of Churchill, Canada. The community of 870 people in Northern Manitoba, which is not accessible via roads, is unique in terms of transport infrastructures. It is home to the only deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean that is directly linked to the North American railway system. Due to the former military presence the community has a big airport which is crucial for the growing tourism industry in the “Polar Bear Capital of the World”. The military also constructed a rocket range which was later used by research organizations and a commercial operator before it was finally closed in the 1990s. While the ruins of the Churchill Rocket Range have become a tourist attraction, the Hudson Bay Railway, the Port of Churchill and the town’s airport are still in use and need to be maintained under harsh Subarctic conditions. Since 2021, the railway and port are – for the first time in history – owned by a consortium of local communities. For renovating and reviving these transport infrastructures, the new owners started right away to look for much needed investments. Eventually, recent global crises prompted the governments of Manitoba and Canada to once again invest heavily in these infrastructures. By discussing results from ethnographic fieldwork, archival research and a future scenario workshop, conducted within the ERC project InfraNorth, this paper focuses on infrastructural temporalities (Velkova & Plantin, 2023) through concrete moments of change.
Abandoned rocket range south of Churchill, MB, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
Budka, P. (2024). Infrastructural futures in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Paper at Arctic Congress, Bodø, Norway: Nordland Research Institute and Nord University, 29 May – 3 June.
Introduction
Infrastructures play a pivotal role in numerous social transformations, sociopolitical developments, and creative processes of innovation. Consequently, infrastructures have become a significant focus of research in anthropology and the humanities and social sciences more broadly (Buier, 2023; Harvey & Knox, 2015; Star, 1999). Questions that connect infrastructures to development, sustainability, and transformation point to the significance of temporality – not only the present and the past, but also the future – as a crucial analytical lens (Amatulli & Budka, forthcoming; Carse & Kneas, 2019). This paper examines the role of transport infrastructures in Northern Manitoba, Canada, by discussing questions related to infrastructural futures and futurities.
Traffic sign outside of Churchill, MB, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has revitalised and boosted interest in digital ethnography, the question arises as to what remains in its aftermath. Has digital ethnography entered the mainstream, and the digital merged with ethnographic research in an obviously profoundly digitised and digitalised world? Or has it disappeared back into the fringes, unphased by the short-lived interest? What do we actually mean when we talk about digital ethnography: online, remote, post-digital and should we discard these terms altogether? What methodological and ethical insights, movements, setbacks, reflections, innovations and (inter)disciplinary cross-references have emerged in the wake of global developments that have forced ethnographers to rethink their research in unprecedented ways? In this panel organised by the Digital Ethnography Initiative (DEI), we explore the state of digital ethnography (defined as ethnographic research with and through the “digital” and not limited to remote/online) as it emerges from turbulent but perhaps also fruitful times. We invite a wide range of contributions discussing methodological issues, conundrums, dilemmas, twists and turns of contemporary digital ethnography, based on original research. The contributors will be invited to subsequently write a short blog entry for the DEI blog, based on the papers presented at the panel.
Infrastructures have become prominent research fields in anthropology and in the humanities and social sciences more generally (e.g., Buier, 2023; Harvey & Knox 2015; Star 1999). Questions that link infrastructures to development, sustainability, and transformation point to the importance of temporalities – not only the (ethnographic) present, but also the (historical) past and the (sociotechnical) future – as a key analytical lens. Infrastructures are planned, approved, built, operationalized, or renovated with the anticipation that they will, for example, create economic growth and improve the socioeconomic well-being of local populations. Consequently, one way to explore infrastructure development is to look at the broad range of desires, hopes, and fears toward the future of these “sociotechnical spaces” (Mason, 2004). Such sentiments or feelings are particularly strong towards infrastructural “mega-projects” which are very cost intensive, involve a variety of stakeholders, and affect millions of people (Flyvbjerg, 2017). Among such projects are motorways, airports, seaports, spaceports, rail lines, submarine cable systems, dams, wind farms, offshore oil and gas facilities. This workshop invites contributors to discuss the relationships between specifically large-scale infrastructures and futurities – affective and ideologically loaded desires or fears of being in the future – by reflecting on the following two questions: (1) What role do futurities play in the imagining, conceiving, and making of infrastructures and their futures? (2) How do infrastructural futurities shape the relationship between infrastructure development and sociocultural lifeworlds? The workshop will be structured by these two questions and participants will be asked to discuss them in at least two “tour the table” rounds, which are then followed by open discussions.
Budka, P. (2023). Community transport infrastructures in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Paper at STS Austria Conference 2023, Vienna, Austria: Austrian Academy of Sciences, 27-29 November.
Abstract
Infrastructures are at the core of many social transformations, sociopolitical developments, and creative processes of innovation. They have become key indicators and signs of economic development, technological advancement, and modernization. Particularly in small and remote communities, infrastructures are often associated with economic growth, socio-economic well-being, and therefore communal sustainability. This paper looks into the role and meaning of transport infrastructures in sustaining remote communities in Northern Manitoba, Canada. In doing so it focuses in particular on questions of infrastructural ownership and control. As of 2021, and for the first time in history, key transport infrastructures – the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill – are owned by a consortium of 41 northern communities. The paper draws on ethnographic data that have been collected in the region for the ERC project InfraNorth. As the case of transport infrastructures in Northern Manitoba shows, social relationships and organizational partnerships are key for planning, developing, building, continuing, and maintaining infrastructures. Infrastructure should therefore be conceptualized as more than just an operational system of technological objects.
Crossing sign outside of Churchill, MB, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
This paper explores transport infrastructures in the Subarctic town of Churchill, Canada. The community of 870 people in Northern Manitoba, which is not accessible via roads, is unique in terms of transport infrastructures. It is home to the only deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean that is directly linked to the North American railway system. And due to the former presence of US and Canadian military the community has a big airport, which has become key for the growing tourism industry in the “Polar Bear Capital of the World”. Churchill only exists because of these infrastructures and it has been changing together with them. This entanglement becomes particularly visible and tangible when infrastructure gets disrupted, when infrastructure fails. As in 2017, when a flooding destroyed the tracks of the Hudson Bay Railway and Churchill was without land connection for 18 months because nobody wanted to pay for repair. Five years later, however, and in the light of recent geopolitical developments, the federal and the provincial governments agreed to invest up to CA$ 147 million in the Hudson Bay Railway and the port. By discussing ethnographic findings, gathered within the ERC project InfraNorth, this paper focuses on the role of transport infrastructures in sustaining and transforming the community of Churchill.
Out of stock items at the Northern Store in Churchill, MB, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
This paper explores how tourism and transport infrastructures are entangled in the town of Churchill in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Situated at the junction of the boreal forest, the Arctic tundra, and the Hudson Bay, the community of 870 people has become known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World”. While early bear watching projects in Churchill already started in the 1970s, tourism really exploded when polar bears became worldwide symbols of global warming and climate change at the end of the 20th century.
This tremendous growth in tourism was mainly enabled by the transport infrastructure of a town which has no road connection. The Hudson Bay Railway, which was originally built to ship grain from Canada’s prairie provinces to the seaport of Churchill, now also brings tourists and their supplies. The same goes for Churchill’s airport, which was constructed for military purposes during the Second World War and now serves as transportation hub for tourists, tour operators, and their cargo.
By discussing ethnographic findings, this paper focuses on the role of tourism, as a key economic driver, and its connection to transport infrastructures in sustaining and transforming the town of Churchill. In doing so, it also critically reflects upon the very notion of sustainability (transformation). This study is one of several case studies in the ERC project InfraNorth, which looks into the affordances of transport infrastructures on a pan-Arctic scale.
Professional photographers during bear season in Churchill, MB, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
Budka, P. (2023). Digital and transport infrastructures in remote Canada: Notes on ownership and control. Paper at InfraNorth Workshop “Ethnographies of Infrastructure”, Vienna, Austria: University of Vienna, May 22.
Abstract
Infrastructures are at the core of many social transformations, sociopolitical developments, and creative processes of innovation. They have become key indicators and signs of economic development, technological advancement, and modernization. Particularly in small and remote communities, infrastructures are often associated with economic growth, socio-economic well-being, and therefore communal sustainability.
This paper looks into the role of digital and transport infrastructures in remote communities in Canada by discussing questions of infrastructural ownership and control. In doing so, it draws on completed ethnographic fieldwork on the development and appropriation of digital infrastructures in Northwestern Ontario as well as on ongoing fieldwork in Northern Manitoba on the affordances of transport infrastructures in relation to sustaining communities; the latter being conducted within the ERC project InfraNorth.
Both cases show that the creation of social relationships and organizational partnerships are key for the planning, developing, building, continuing, and maintaining of infrastructures. At least from an ethnographic and anthropological perspective, infrastructure is therefore much more than just an operational system of technological objects.
Map of broadband internet connectivity in Sandy Lake First Nation, ON, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
Budka, P. (2023). Relational infrastructures: Transportation and sustainability in the Subarctic town of Churchill, Canada. Paper at Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society, Rovaniemi, Finland: Arctic Centre, 21-23 March.
Abstract
This paper explores how transport infrastructures are interconnected and entangled in the Subarctic town of Churchill, Canada. In doing so, it looks into the creation and maintenance of these infrastructures as well as into the role that social, political, and economic relations play here. It furthermore examines how such infrastructural entanglements contribute to the sustainability of the town. Churchill is one of several field sites in the ERC project InfraNorth, which looks into the affordances of transport infrastructures on a pan-Arctic scale through an anthropological lens.
Churchill, a town of 870 people, is unique in terms of transport infrastructure. The town, which is not accessible via roads, is home to Canada’s only deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean. This is the only harbor in the American (Sub)Arctic with a direct link to the North American railway system. In addition, Churchill has a relatively big airport, which was originally built by the military and is now supporting in particular the growing tourism industry. The community of Churchill only exists because of these infrastructures and it has been changing together with them.
By discussing ethnographic and historical findings, this paper focuses on how this infrastructural entanglement becomes particularly visible in times of infrastructural breakdown and failure. When in 2017 a flooding washed-out the railway tracks and Churchill was without train connection for 18 months, the town and its inhabitants had to rely on air transportation and on a network of winter trails to transport goods and supplies. This has had severe consequences for this remote Subarctic town.
Mural in the Town of Churchill created for the Seawalls Churchill project in 2017; in the back the Port of Churchill, MB, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
Tourism is big in Churchill, a town of 870 people situated at the junction of the boreal forest, the Subarctic tundra, and the Hudson Bay in Northern Manitoba, Canada. And tourism is closely entangled with transport infrastructures, such as roads, trails, railway, and airport. Through these infrastructures, tourists are able to reach the town and move around in the community and the nearby area. Tourism operators use these infrastructures to move not only people, but also supplies, equipment, and fuel.
Budka, P. (2023). Sustainability transformation and transport infrastructures in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Paper at Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW2023), Vienna, Austria: University of Vienna, 17-24 February.
Abstract
This paper explores from an anthropological perspective how infrastructural entanglements relate to sustainability transformation of/in the town of Churchill in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Situated at the junction of the boreal forest, the Arctic tundra, and the Hudson Bay, the community of 870 people has become well-known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World”. But Churchill is also unique in terms of transport infrastructures. Whereas the town is not accessible via roads, it is home of Canada’s only deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean. This port is the only harbor in the American (Sub)Arctic with a direct link to the North American railway system. And due to former military presence, the town also has a relatively big airport, which has become key for the growing tourism industry.
Churchill only exists because of these transport infrastructures and it has been changing together with this built environment. Only recently and in the light of geopolitical developments, the federal and the provincial governments agreed to invest up to CA$ 147 million to upgrade the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill. By discussing ethnographic findings, this paper focuses on the role of transport infrastructures in sustaining and transforming the community. At the same time, it critically reflects upon the very notion of sustainability (transformation) from an anthropological and cross-cultural angle. This study is one of several case studies in the ERC project InfraNorth, which looks into the affordances of transport infrastructures on a pan-Arctic scale.
The Town of Churchill, MB, Canada, from a helicopter; in the back the Port of Churchill. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
Budka, P. (2022). Infrastructural sustainability? The case of a town in northern Manitoba, Canada [Unpublished manuscript]. Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna.
Abstract
This paper explores how the built environment and in particular infrastructural entanglements contribute to the sustainability of the town of Churchill in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Situated at the junction of the boreal forest, the Arctic tundra, and the Hudson Bay, the town of 870 residents has become well-known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World”.
But Churchill is also unique in terms of transport infrastructures. Whereas the town is not accessible via roads, it is home of Canada’s only deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean. This port is the only seaport in the American (Sub)Arctic with a direct link to the North American railway network. And due to former military presence, the town also has a relatively big airport, which now supports the growing tourism industry.
The community of Churchill only exists because of these transport infrastructures and it has been changing together with this built environment. By discussing ethnographic findings, the paper focuses on the failures, such as an 18-month train outage after the flooding of railway tracks in 2017, and the promises, such as the renovation of port and railway between 2021 and 2023 under new ownership, of transport infrastructures in sustaining the community.
Churchill is one of several field sites in the ERC project InfraNorth, which looks into the affordances of transport infrastructures on a pan-Arctic scale through an anthropological lens.
Port of Churchill, MB, Canada. (Photo by Philipp Budka)
