Elena Adasheva

Elena Adasheva is an early career Polar social scientist and visual artist. She is committed to fostering intercultural communication and interdisciplinary collaborations in Polar research and education. Currently, Elena is a PhD Candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology at Yale University (USA). Light and dark in the Polar regions is the topic of Elena’s current ethnographic research projects. Her dissertation, based on a nine-month fieldwork, explores human-environment relations, urban infrastructure, and energy governance in the Siberian Arctic. In 2023, Elena was one of the scientists selected to work on the ARICE-PONANT Polar Expedition Ship “Le Commandant Charcot” with her original research project, exploring perceptions of light in the polar landscape. Elena’s second research interest includes science diplomacy in the Arctic and Antarctic. This collaborative work aims to center non-state actors in the international polar science, as opposed to nation-states, while regarding science diplomacy as serving and resulting from the production of scientific knowledge in the polar environments.

Research projects / interests:

• Environmental humanities
• Sociocultural anthropology
• Polar science
• Human-environment relations in polar regions

Areas of interest:

• Sociocultural Anthropology
• Environmental Humanities
• Science Diplomacy and Cooperation
• Travel Literature
• Polar History
• Human Geography
• Visual art

Keywords: polar environmental humanities