Soccer and lasagna, Geospectives

Our annual undergrads versus grads/professors soccer game is coming up THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13th. The game starts at 6PM at Lower Field (western side of campus). The game should run for approximately an hour, followed by homemade LASAGNA and BEER in the MUGS Lounge (3rd Floor, Burnside). We will be collecting $6 for lasagna and beer after the game ($5 for costs, $1 donation to World of Dreams charity drive). See you all there!

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 Dr. Niobe Thompson
University of Alberta, Department of Anthropology 

The Russian state is in the early stages of a massive project of social engineering, intended to create a more economically sustainable far north by settling much of the present migrant population to central regions of the country.  The Assisted Federal Migration scheme signals a fundamental shift from the Soviet model of permanent northern settlement to a new reliance on transient shift labour.  In the words of Russian planners, this is long overdue exercise to rid the north of "human debris" left over from the Soviet era.  Already supported by a World Bank loan of $70m, plans are in place to drain the far Russian northeast alone of 600,000 residents. But are planners correct to assume Russian settlers in the north will be receptive to resettlement?  And what are the consequences for indigenous people left behind in a newly depopulated north?  This presentation will draw on ethnographic research conducted in the far northeast region of Chukotka and communities of former northerners now resettled in central Russia to examine sources of resistance Russia now faces in "shrinking" its north.