In the early August 2015, the EUSP Arctic Studies Program has successfully held the first FENOR Nomadic Summer School. Its participants and mentors have visited several sites in the Northwest Russia, conducting anthropological fieldwork and getting acquainted with everyday life in the area.
Here follows the account by Prof Nikolai Vakhtin, one of the FENOR mentors, and some photos.
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FENOR Summer School: Some results
On the last day of the school, the organizers distributed a short questionnaire asking to rate the school (5 highest, 1 lowest).
Results were very encouraging for the organizers. Overall design of the School was rated 5.0; the quality of organization was rated 5.0. The question “How useful the School was…” got: for your professional growth in general - 4,9, for your current research project - 3,7 (in all probability, due to high diversity of the group and research topics), as a personal experience - 5,0. The question about “the quality and usefulness of …”: lectures - 4,5, fieldwork tasks and the fieldwork itself - 4,9, fieldwork discussions - 4,9, excursions and tours - 5,0, informal communication - 4,9.
And here are what some students wrote at the bottom of the questionnaire:
- I have been to other summer schools and this has been the best. The mobile structure, the fieldwork tasks, it was all great! Thank you so much for the opportunity to come and participate.
- Thank you so much for all the work, effort, and funding you have all put into this summer field school. It was truly an unforgettable and enriching experience, and I will value the new memories and friends made for a long time – alongside all the new insights and knowledge I have gained.
- Maybe it could be worth staying in each place a little longer (3-4 days), because frequent travels were sometimes tiring. Unfortunately I got a bit tired towards the end, so maybe the last couple of days were not as productive as I would like them to be. Otherwise, everything was amazing! Thank you so much!
- Thank you so much for this incredible experience. I could see the contemporary Russian life in so many dimensions.
- The way FENOR school was organized was perfect: we had theoretical experience, empirical experience, informal communication, we have learned a lot and that is great! This is a perfect structure for the future school.
- You really showed how interesting was a subject totally new to me - social anthropology. I have different professional backgrounds but now I have some ideas of how to include anthropological methods into my PhD research. I have just broadened by how different the work is and how different methods can be used to learn more about the Russian North. Thank you very much!
Nikolai Vakhtin
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