Cultures of Everyday Preparedness in Sensitive Arctic Borderlands

This project investigates how culturally diverse borderland communities in Eastern Lapland and Eastern Finnmark prepare for and respond to crises. On this basis, CULPRE shall develop a comprehensive theory in social anthropology and cultural studies of cultures of preparedness, explaining how different groups in society mobilise their traditional knowledge for preparing for crises – especially when living close to a high-tension border with a country at war.
Local, Indigenous, and immigrant populations have long practiced distinct cultures of everyday preparedness, as evident from concepts in their languages. These have been missing so far from studies and discourses on preparedness and everyday security. Such traditions — rooted in multi-species coexistence in challenging natural, cultural, social and political environments — have long equipped communities in the North with the skills to navigate crises autonomously.
CULPRE co-creates evidence on cultures of preparedness with traditionally marginalised groups in Arctic borderlands. Analyzing how preparedness is enacted in daily life across multi-ethnic contexts along the sensitive Arctic borderlands, CULPRE aims to harness the lived experience of crisis preparedness and people’s culturally diverse connected skillsets for enhancing community-based resilience and societal everyday security.