CfP: Russia and the appropriation of the Arctic. Interests, instruments and identities from the late Tsarist period to the present day

 CfP: Russia and the appropriation of the Arctic. Interests, instruments and identities from the late Tsarist period to the present day

International Workshop, Chair of Russian-Asian Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich

12–14 March 2026, Deadline: 30 November 2025

More than any other country, Russia has colonised and industrialised the Arctic—including its coasts—and has utilised the ocean as a strategic sea route. Today, the Russian Far North serves as a projection screen for national interests and identities; its history legitimises the supposedly “natural” privileges of the largest Arctic state. Central to these narratives is the concept of “appropriation” (osvoenie)—a buzzword originating in the Stalin era that has, in recent years, regained significant prominence as an ideological tool in Russian Arctic discourse. Researchers often translate it too narrowly as “conquest”, yet the term encapsulates a multifaceted complex of processes. It serves as a euphemism describing diverse practices and dynamics: exploration and scientific surveying, resource exploitation, the “Sovietisation” and transformation of indigenous populations, the migration and settlement of groups from the Russian sub-Arctic, and their mental, ideological, and physical adaptation to the environment. This complex also encompassed the assertion of economic and legal claims in the Arctic Ocean, alongside a militarisation that has accelerated since 2022. At an ideological level, appropriation transforms the Arctic into a core realm of Russian history—an emotionally charged counter-image, the ‘Russian North’, contrasted both with a supposedly declining West and with subarctic Asia.

The workshop foregrounds a comprehensive analysis of Russian and Soviet “appropriation” in the Arctic up to the 2020s. While osvoenie serves as a conceptual probe, the scope extends beyond conceptual history (Begriffsgeschichte). Contributions may examine actors and objectives, images and ideologies, methods and epistemologies, interests and achievements, as well as costs, failures, resistance and collaboration. As strategies varied by region, the project deliberately refrains from imposing rigid boundaries. However, particular emphasis will be placed on the formative connection between ocean and coastal regions: the Arctic Ocean is no longer regarded as a distant, impenetrable ice sheet north of Siberia, but instead has provided a strategic sea route to Siberia and is now considered one of Moscow’s most important geopolitical focal points. The timeframe spans from the late nineteenth century, when St Petersburg asserted claims over the Arctic Ocean and technological advances made the icy seas more accessible, through to the present, as the Arctic rises ever higher on the economic and security agenda of the Russian Federation. The workshop and the planned volume aim to analyse these developments through a historically grounded framework that brings together disciplinary perspectives from political science, anthropology, literary studies, law and economics, amongst others.

We invite contributions from scholars at all career levels whose research explores one or more of the following aspects of Russian/Soviet Arctic history:State and empire building

Oceanic and maritime history

Science, technology and medicine

Modernity and indigenous cultures

Heroes and heroines

Human and non-human actors

Built environments and imagined geographies

Historiography and master narratives

Geopolitical concepts and economic interests

Local experiences and perspectives

The workshop aims to lay the groundwork for a joint publication. Rather than producing another anthology of specialised research or a handbook with survey articles, its goal is to assemble a coherent collection of previously unpublished papers that address a shared, cross-cutting theme from multiple disciplinary perspectives. The resulting volume is intended to be finalised by the end of 2027 and to foster ongoing scholarly collaboration.

Proposals should include a concise outline of a specific chapter (approximately 500–750 words) that demonstrates a clear connection to the overarching theme of ‘Appropriation’ and formulates a research question, as well as a one-page cv. Please send your submission to Andreas Renner at andreas.renner@lmu.de by 30 November 2025.

Authors whose proposals are accepted will be invited to a workshop at the Chair of Russian-Asian Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, 12–14 March 2026. The workshop is intended to take place on site, but hybrid participation can be arranged if required.

The conference will be supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), which enables us to reimburse participants’ travel expenses up to a specified limit.

[Image — The Russian nuclear icebreaker Yamal cutting through the Arctic Ocean ice at the North Pole. Photo credit: Peter Guttman/Getty Images.]