Aimar Ventsel has studied Siberia and the Russian Far East since 1995. He wrote his MA thesis about the urban identity of Western Siberian Khanty and Mansy youth, being one of the first scholars to study indigenous life in the urban environment. Ventsel’s doctoral thesis was about the transition economy in the Republic Of Sakha, Russia in 2000 and 2001. In recent years he has studied minority laws and cultural autonomy in the Russian Arctic and how the Republic of Sakha uses these laws. He has published on the language policy of the Republic of Sakha, contemporary youth culture, reindeer herding cultures, indigenous small entrepreneurs and many other topics. He has authored two monographs and numerous journal articles and book chapters. In 2020, Ventsel was awarded with the badge of honour of the University of Tartu for his contribution to the development of Estonian scholarship.
In this project he focuses on indigenous organisations in the US Arctic, Canada and Greenland. The main interest is on the cooperation of the indigenous organisations and state agencies. The focus will be on interviews with representatives of the indigenous organisation, but only with respective people among the governmental structures who work together with the beforementioned organisations. Additionally open source information will be used.
His main publications are Ventsel, Aimar, 2005, Reindeer, Rodina and Reciprocity: kinship and property relations in a Siberian village. Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia, LIT Verlag, Aimar Ventsel, 2018, Blurring masculinities in the Republic of Sakha, Russian Far East, Polar Geography, Vol 41, No. 3, 198-216. , Aimar Ventsel, Natal’ia Struchkova, 2015, Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context. Sociolinguistic Studies. 9.2-3,pp. 269–288. , Ventsel, Aimar, 2011, Siberian movements: how Money and Goods travel in and out of North-western Sakha, in: Ventsel, Aimar and Leete, Art (guest editors), World Routes in the Arctic, Special Issue of Electronic Journal of Folklore, Vol.49, pp. 113-130., Habeck, Joachim Otto and Aimar Ventsel, 2009, Consumption and popular culture among youth in Siberia, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie Vol. 134, pp. 1-22.
Aimar Ventsel (Arktika uuringute uurija-professor) on tegelenud uurimistööga Siberis ja Venemaa Kaug-Idas alates 1995 aastast. Ventsel kirjutas oma magistritöö Lääne Siberi linnas elavate hantide ja manside noorte identiteedist, olles sellega üks esimesi, kes uuris akadeemiliselt Siberi põliselanikke linnades. Ventseli doktoritöö väitekiri oli Venemaa Kaug-Idas asuva Sahha Vabariigi (Jakuutia) siirdeühiskonna majandusest 200-l ja 2001-l aastal. Viimastel aastatel on ta uurinud vähemusrahvaste kultuuriautonoomia seadusandlust Venemaa Arktikas ja seda kuidas Sahha Vabariik kasutab neid seadusi ära. Ventsel on publitseerinud Sahha Vabariigi keelepoliitika, kaasaegse Siberi noortekultuuri, põhjapõdrakasvatajate kultuuri ja väikeettevõtluse kohta Sahha Vabariigis. Ta on avaldanud kaks monograafiat ja mitmeid akadeemilisi artikleid ja raamatupeatükke. 2020 aastal sai Aimar Ventsel Tartu Ülikooli teenetemärgi panuse eest teaduse arengusse.
Antud projektis uurib Ventsel Ameerika Ühendriikide ja Kanada Arktika ning Gröönimaa põlisrahvaste organisatsioone. Peamine rõhk on sellel, kuidas põlisrahvaste organisatsioonid ja riiklikud institutsioonid koos töötavad. Uurimuse põhirõhk on intervjuudel põlisrahvaste esindusorganisatsioonide esindajatega ja nende erinevate koostööpartneritega valitsussektoris. Lisaks kasutatakse avalikke allikaid.
Ventseli peamised publikatsioonid on Ventsel, Aimar, 2005, Reindeer, Rodina and Reciprocity: kinship and property relations in a Siberian village. Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia, LIT Verlag, Aimar Ventsel, 2018, Blurring masculinities in the Republic of Sakha, Russian Far East, Polar Geography, Vol 41, No. 3, 198-216. , Aimar Ventsel, Natal’ia Struchkova, 2015, Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context. Sociolinguistic Studies. 9.2-3,pp. 269–288. , Ventsel, Aimar, 2011, Siberian movements: how Money and Goods travel in and out of North-western Sakha, in: Ventsel, Aimar and Leete, Art (guest editors), World Routes in the Arctic, Special Issue of Electronic Journal of Folklore, Vol.49, pp. 113-130., Habeck, Joachim Otto and Aimar Ventsel, 2009, Consumption and popular culture among youth in Siberia, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie Vol. 134, pp. 1-22.