In this paper, we explore the methodical, methodological, epistemological and outreach potential – and related challenges – of cartographic storytelling in ethnographic research, based on the online portal Life of BAM. Our extensive literature review highlights the need for deep self-reflection in the cartographic production of manifold realities and the way in which visualised stories can be co-produced by local people and researchers. It also describes cartography’s conceptual turns and its role in anthropology and ethnography. As an outreach tool, the Life of BAM portal conveys knowledge about social and infrastructural configurations in the greater area of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) and Amur-Yakutsk Mainline (AYaM) railroads in Eastern Siberia, through a series of lay-language and visualised ‘episodes’ built into the ArcGIS StoryMaps online tool. Interlinking qualitative and quantitative data in the cartographic visualisation of manifold realities can trigger better comprehension of complex matters, through multimodal forms of representing stories in space. Cartographic storytelling, as a means of knowledge and science communication, supports – in our case – civil society, education, heritage work and policy making, and is a way of making local concerns more tangible for state officials and corporate actors. By engaging with cartographic storytelling and building the Life of BAM portal, we affirm that a reflective attitude towards the multiplicity of stories’ ontologies in narration, collection, comprehension and representation is of key importance if we want to do justice to a decolonial approach towards Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and research partners in the field.

In July 2019, the village of Nizhniy Bestyakh in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutiya), the Russian Far East, was finally able to celebrate the opening of an eagerly awaited railroad passenger connection. Through analysis of rich ethnographic data, this article explores the “state of uncertainty” caused by repeated delays in construction of the railroad prior to this and focuses on the effect of these delays on students of a local transportation college. This college prepares young people for railroad jobs and careers, promising a steady income and a place in the Republic's wider modernization project. The research also reveals how the state of uncertainty led to unforeseen consequences, such as the seeding of doubt among students about their desire to be a part of the Republic's industrialization drive.

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