Periodic Reporting for period 1 - InAndAround (Patterns of land-use and human mobility in a time of climate changes (Italy, 6th to 10th cc.))
Período documentado: 2021-08-15 hasta 2023-08-14
1.PROBLEM AND ISSUE ADDRESSED
The project investigates human-environmental and human-climate interactions, including their effect on migratory flows, in Tuscany, Italy, between the 6th and 10th centuries. Tuscany witnessed climate change and environmental instability for the period considered and military campaigns and institutional transformations which reshaped its political and landscape makeup. The project aims at integrating into the traditional debate on the socio-political actors of these processes the role of climatic constrains as part of a complex web of drivers. it is interdisciplinary by design and integrates different kind of dataset: physical/natural proxy data from lake sediments newly extracted in 5 localities, some of which currently under examination; historical/documentary texts and archaeological records. These independent sources will be integrated through a consilient approach. For conceptual and theoretical aspects, new analytic tools from the most recent sociological literature on climate mobilities will be applied to the evidence. This will be instrumental to go beyond deterministic tropes and embrace complexity as a pathway to better integrate climate reconstructions and the study of human history.
2.RELEVANCE FOR SOCIATY
As the ongoing European migration crisis and global climate challenge demonstrate, the project’s focus bears contemporary relevance. In this respect, it seeks to develop conceptual paradigmatic pathways that can foster comparative analysis against other historical periods, including present-day societies, in order to get a better “understanding of the causes of climate change and to pave the way for pathways and solutions to address them”.
3.OVERALL OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the project are: A) filling in a major gap in current scholarship. Indeed, while research on past climate variability and change is expanding, our knowledge is restricted by geographical biases, with only a minority of studies focusing on Italy in the early Middle Ages. B) refining our theoretical framework. The discourse of apocalyptic, climate change-induced mass migration has now past its prime. Most of the migration scholarship no longer expects a linear, massive, and world-transforming movement of people under climate change. However, many medievalists still follow this neo-deterministic approach, C) fostering the consilience between natural sciences and humanities, thus meeting the call for a closer collaboration between paleoclimatologists and historians.
The project investigates human-environmental and human-climate interactions, including their effect on migratory flows, in Tuscany, Italy, between the 6th and 10th centuries. Tuscany witnessed climate change and environmental instability for the period considered and military campaigns and institutional transformations which reshaped its political and landscape makeup. The project aims at integrating into the traditional debate on the socio-political actors of these processes the role of climatic constrains as part of a complex web of drivers. it is interdisciplinary by design and integrates different kind of dataset: physical/natural proxy data from lake sediments newly extracted in 5 localities, some of which currently under examination; historical/documentary texts and archaeological records. These independent sources will be integrated through a consilient approach. For conceptual and theoretical aspects, new analytic tools from the most recent sociological literature on climate mobilities will be applied to the evidence. This will be instrumental to go beyond deterministic tropes and embrace complexity as a pathway to better integrate climate reconstructions and the study of human history.
2.RELEVANCE FOR SOCIATY
As the ongoing European migration crisis and global climate challenge demonstrate, the project’s focus bears contemporary relevance. In this respect, it seeks to develop conceptual paradigmatic pathways that can foster comparative analysis against other historical periods, including present-day societies, in order to get a better “understanding of the causes of climate change and to pave the way for pathways and solutions to address them”.
3.OVERALL OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the project are: A) filling in a major gap in current scholarship. Indeed, while research on past climate variability and change is expanding, our knowledge is restricted by geographical biases, with only a minority of studies focusing on Italy in the early Middle Ages. B) refining our theoretical framework. The discourse of apocalyptic, climate change-induced mass migration has now past its prime. Most of the migration scholarship no longer expects a linear, massive, and world-transforming movement of people under climate change. However, many medievalists still follow this neo-deterministic approach, C) fostering the consilience between natural sciences and humanities, thus meeting the call for a closer collaboration between paleoclimatologists and historians.
1.WORK PERFORMED AND RESULTS ACHIEVED
The work performed was meant at reaching proficiency in historical climatology/environmental history and acquiring professional maturity in financial/management and teaching/communication skills. A) The training in environmental history/historical climatology has followed two strands of activities.I pursued research in a multidisciplinary environment and attended courses and seminars on the subject. By design the research is an integral part of the "Combining Historic and Ecologic Archives to Understand Past Environmental Change" project, run by an interdisciplinary team of experts based at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Within this context, the work has revolved around the construction of a bibliographical database; the study of primary sources, i.e. written texts; the undertaking of a drilling camping for the acquisition of new proxy data from lake sediments in two localities of the Lucca Plain, Italy. B) Thanks to the support of the administrative staff of the University of Venice (UNIVE), I fostered my financial and management abilities. I participated actively in the allocation of the money transferred from UNIVE to UNR for the costs related to the organization of a workshop. I reviewed the project budget and reallocated the resources for the completion of the project in its final year. As regards my teaching/communication skills, I attended events on public speaking and media communication and taught as first instructor 2 classes. I also developed supervisory skills serving as member of the Dissertation Committee of a graduate student.
2.EXPLOITATION/DISSEMINATION OF THE RESULTS
The exploitation/dissemination activities have regarded the academic and non-academic community alike. A) I presented specific aspects of the research and preliminary results in occasions of 5 international conferences and invited lectures at universities in 5 different countries worldwide, including Germany, Canada, USA, Italy, and Israel. I also contributed to write a collaborative book chapter and I drafted two single-authored articles. Two of these works are currently in press. The third is under review and will be published soon. B) I informed undergraduate and graduate students about the work performed and the results achieved systematically during the courses I taught at UNR. Additionally, I involved students, the administrative staff of UNR and Reno's local community in occasion of two public events: the inauguration ceremony of the College of Liberal Arts for the a.y. 2021/22 and an open day featuring the guest lecture of Prof. Helen Foxhall Forb, a specialist in the field of environmental history. Finally, I advertised my project through a dedicated web site.
The work performed was meant at reaching proficiency in historical climatology/environmental history and acquiring professional maturity in financial/management and teaching/communication skills. A) The training in environmental history/historical climatology has followed two strands of activities.I pursued research in a multidisciplinary environment and attended courses and seminars on the subject. By design the research is an integral part of the "Combining Historic and Ecologic Archives to Understand Past Environmental Change" project, run by an interdisciplinary team of experts based at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Within this context, the work has revolved around the construction of a bibliographical database; the study of primary sources, i.e. written texts; the undertaking of a drilling camping for the acquisition of new proxy data from lake sediments in two localities of the Lucca Plain, Italy. B) Thanks to the support of the administrative staff of the University of Venice (UNIVE), I fostered my financial and management abilities. I participated actively in the allocation of the money transferred from UNIVE to UNR for the costs related to the organization of a workshop. I reviewed the project budget and reallocated the resources for the completion of the project in its final year. As regards my teaching/communication skills, I attended events on public speaking and media communication and taught as first instructor 2 classes. I also developed supervisory skills serving as member of the Dissertation Committee of a graduate student.
2.EXPLOITATION/DISSEMINATION OF THE RESULTS
The exploitation/dissemination activities have regarded the academic and non-academic community alike. A) I presented specific aspects of the research and preliminary results in occasions of 5 international conferences and invited lectures at universities in 5 different countries worldwide, including Germany, Canada, USA, Italy, and Israel. I also contributed to write a collaborative book chapter and I drafted two single-authored articles. Two of these works are currently in press. The third is under review and will be published soon. B) I informed undergraduate and graduate students about the work performed and the results achieved systematically during the courses I taught at UNR. Additionally, I involved students, the administrative staff of UNR and Reno's local community in occasion of two public events: the inauguration ceremony of the College of Liberal Arts for the a.y. 2021/22 and an open day featuring the guest lecture of Prof. Helen Foxhall Forb, a specialist in the field of environmental history. Finally, I advertised my project through a dedicated web site.
1.PROGRESS AND EXPECTED RESULTS
The project will contribute to make substantial progresses in current scholarship both in terms of acquisition of new data and the refinement of the methodology used. A better understanding of the complexities surrounding the interactions between climate/environmental variability and human mobility in relation to the shifting political regimes and land management systems in early medieval Italy is expected. As concerns the acquisition of new data, the research will obtain new palynological records from lake sediments newly-extracted in 5 localities. Through the integration of historical records and physical evidence it will produce a major synthesis, filling in a chronological and geographical gap in the state of the field. The project will contribute to mitigate the challenges which interdisciplinary research poses, through an effort towards a conceptual sophistication in the study of the migration-climate change nexus, and by testing best practices for future research.
2.POTENTIAL IMPACTS
Historical climatology is an interdisciplinary field of research which has grown in recent years. This growth has brought both insights and challenges. New opportunities for cross-fertilisation and comparison between natural and social sciences have been complicated by the heterogeneity of evidence and approaches and the diversity of disciplinary terminologies, and scales of analysis. The potential impacts of the project are in that the research is conceived as an initiative to overcome these challenges and to contribute in expanding our knowledge into new regions and periods. At a system level, the project has also the potential to foster important national and international research cooperations. It will promote bonds between scholars based in the USA, the researchers of the Department of Environmental Studies, Informatics and Statistics (where I am currently based), and the research team of the ERC-founded project SSE1K, run by Prof. Helen Foxhall Forbs (see above). New academic collaborations will be also built between Italy and the researchers of the University of Jerusalem in Israel, where I spent a prolonged period as visiting scholars.
The project will contribute to make substantial progresses in current scholarship both in terms of acquisition of new data and the refinement of the methodology used. A better understanding of the complexities surrounding the interactions between climate/environmental variability and human mobility in relation to the shifting political regimes and land management systems in early medieval Italy is expected. As concerns the acquisition of new data, the research will obtain new palynological records from lake sediments newly-extracted in 5 localities. Through the integration of historical records and physical evidence it will produce a major synthesis, filling in a chronological and geographical gap in the state of the field. The project will contribute to mitigate the challenges which interdisciplinary research poses, through an effort towards a conceptual sophistication in the study of the migration-climate change nexus, and by testing best practices for future research.
2.POTENTIAL IMPACTS
Historical climatology is an interdisciplinary field of research which has grown in recent years. This growth has brought both insights and challenges. New opportunities for cross-fertilisation and comparison between natural and social sciences have been complicated by the heterogeneity of evidence and approaches and the diversity of disciplinary terminologies, and scales of analysis. The potential impacts of the project are in that the research is conceived as an initiative to overcome these challenges and to contribute in expanding our knowledge into new regions and periods. At a system level, the project has also the potential to foster important national and international research cooperations. It will promote bonds between scholars based in the USA, the researchers of the Department of Environmental Studies, Informatics and Statistics (where I am currently based), and the research team of the ERC-founded project SSE1K, run by Prof. Helen Foxhall Forbs (see above). New academic collaborations will be also built between Italy and the researchers of the University of Jerusalem in Israel, where I spent a prolonged period as visiting scholars.