Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LOGGIA (Linking community archaeology and wellbeing in the Mediterranean)
Período documentado: 2022-06-01 hasta 2024-11-30
Cultural heritage-related activities may break down barriers to public participation and – within the contexts of museums, historic landscapes and parks, and others – may positively impact individual and community wellbeing. Wellbeing is a construct with multiple meanings and usually paired with health, quality of life and material living conditions. It is both an individual and a collective state: individual wellbeing is defined as a “good mental state, including all of the various evaluations, positive and negative, that people make of their lives and the affective reactions of people to their experiences”. Community wellbeing is primarily “about strong networks of relationships and support between people in a community” and enables to “improve things in, and influence decisions about, their community”. In archaeology the link with wellbeing is still underexplored. LOGGIA will explore this connection focusing on community wellbeing. This approach will be timely since archaeology is experiencing growing pressure to demonstrate its value in contemporary society. In recent decades, public archaeology has identified opportunities of interaction with laypeople such as community archaeology projects. Community archaeology is defined as “archaeology made by the people”. Fostering a bottom-up approach to archaeological research, it facilitates the involvement of local people in the investigation and interpretation of the past. It covers topics such as public participation, sociocultural and economic values, issues of contested heritage, equal access and social justice, which have been examined by both the proposed supervisor and me from different perspectives but with similar approaches. Although the evaluation of wellbeing is not native to community archaeology projects, several studies developed in the United Kingdom have investigated the impact of community archaeology programs on participants’ individual wellbeing. They reported positive outcomes including socialisation, happiness, self-esteem, reduction in stigma and motivation to seek help. By involving specific groups (e.g. mental health service users and veterans) in archaeology-related activities (e.g. excavation and landscape journeying), ground-breaking projects such as Human Henge, Waterloo Uncovered, Operation Nightingale have defined archaeology as a successful means of non-medical intervention, benefiting individual wellbeing and facilitating recovery and rehabilitation.
LOGGIA goes beyond the state of the art by:
• Investigating the connections between community wellbeing and archaeology and developing new theoretical and evaluation frameworks based on specific indicators relevant for archaeology.
• From the perspective of recovery, involving specific vulnerable groups among the persons with disabilities with their families and carers, and encouraging local stakeholders to support the action.
• Focussing on the Mediterranean, where few projects have previously been carried out , and those that have been performed were disconnected from community archaeology programs.
• Proposing tailored activities with a focus on the historic landscape through case study research. Activities such as creative writing, photography, art workshops, and others will allow the target users to provide their vision of the archaeological past. Thus, LOGGIA will reconnect with the otherness’ approach employed in disability studies.
• Proposing tailored activities based on a digital environment. Some archaeology-based programs have explored how to involve the public through popular videogames as Minecraft, but no attempts have been made to use digital archaeology to enhance accessibility, interaction, and fun for persons with disabilities.
LOGGIA addresses specific research objectives:
RO1: To outline a theoretical and evaluation framework linking community wellbeing and archaeology, with a specific focus on the identification of community wellbeing indicators that can cover the stakeholders’ involvement in archaeology.
RO2: To use case study research to assess the inclusion of persons with disabilities in community archaeology projects in the Mediterranean, and to understand the impact on community wellbeing.
RO3: To assess the extent to which the interaction with a digital environment based on the case studies can contribute to the inclusion of persons with disabilities and their wellbeing.
LOGGIA goes beyond the state of the art by:
• Investigating the connections between community wellbeing and archaeology and developing new theoretical and evaluation frameworks based on specific indicators relevant for archaeology.
• From the perspective of recovery, involving specific vulnerable groups among the persons with disabilities with their families and carers, and encouraging local stakeholders to support the action.
• Focussing on the Mediterranean, where few projects have previously been carried out , and those that have been performed were disconnected from community archaeology programs.
• Proposing tailored activities with a focus on the historic landscape through case study research. Activities such as creative writing, photography, art workshops, and others will allow the target users to provide their vision of the archaeological past. Thus, LOGGIA will reconnect with the otherness’ approach employed in disability studies.
• Proposing tailored activities based on a digital environment. Some archaeology-based programs have explored how to involve the public through popular videogames as Minecraft, but no attempts have been made to use digital archaeology to enhance accessibility, interaction, and fun for persons with disabilities.
LOGGIA addresses specific research objectives:
RO1: To outline a theoretical and evaluation framework linking community wellbeing and archaeology, with a specific focus on the identification of community wellbeing indicators that can cover the stakeholders’ involvement in archaeology.
RO2: To use case study research to assess the inclusion of persons with disabilities in community archaeology projects in the Mediterranean, and to understand the impact on community wellbeing.
RO3: To assess the extent to which the interaction with a digital environment based on the case studies can contribute to the inclusion of persons with disabilities and their wellbeing.
LOGGIA ran two case studies in Italy (ArcheologicaMente) and in Cyprus (ArchaioLogikà/ΑρχαιοΛογικά). Two pilot programmes were conducted before them. During the main programmes, the researcher ran the data collection through the questionnaires, record the video clips for the ethnographic video and some video interviews with some of the participants. 6 months after the end of the programmes, another set of semi structured interviews have been conducted to check the medium-term impact of the programmes.
ArcheologicaMente ran in September 2023 and brought together archaeologists working at the Roman site of Vignale, citizens from the small village of Riotorto, local associations, users and health professionals from the Mental Health Unit of the nearby town of Piombino. Four pilot sessions in March 2023 helped to us to gain a general understanding of how the activities could work and be implemented. The aim of the programme, which was shared with all stakeholders, was to make the remains of the medieval castle of Vignale visible and to restore the network of footpaths, in need of maintenance following the neglect caused by the Covid pandemic. In a series of eight meetings, combining indoor and outdoor sessions, the participants in the ArcheologicaMente programme have succeeded in making the castle accessible through a footpath. The participants designed and installed three panels with information about the route, the castle and the historical monuments that can be seen from a panoramic viewpoint over the Gulf of Piombino. The programme concluded with a final event on 29 September 2023, the European Researchers’ Night. The event consisted of a walk from the village of Riotorto to the castle, followed by a dinner at the Riolab premises, accompanied by a reconstruction of a story in local folklore about the castle’s demise. With about 40 people joining the walk and 150 the dinner, the event was a fantastic conclusion for ArcheologicaMente.
'ΑρχαιοΛογικά' ran between October and December 2023, in the two municipalities of the Xeros river valley (Larnaca), Kophinou and Alaminos, and in Agios Theodoros, a third municipality located at the edge of the valley. The programme resulted from a co-design process initiated with the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) and the Cyprus Alliance for Rare Disorders and implemented with the support of the three municipalities, the Bishopric of Trimythous, and the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus. ΑρχαιοΛογικά has used the sacred landscape and memories of the Xeros river valley to embark on a journey of abandonment with local communities, individuals from other areas of Cyprus and the Huntington's disease (HD) community. ΑρχαιοΛογικά comprised a six-session programme that consisted of tailor-made indoor and outdoor activities. By looking at the heritage sites and exploring them through creative approaches based on writing and photography, the project encouraged discussions on the broader themes relating to the past history of the region, memory, and abandonment. The team working on the programme produced together a photographic exhibition, which took place on 9 December 2023 and included activities for children and a Christmas market organised in collaboration with the Huntington's Disease Association of Cyprus with the aim of raising awareness of HD. The event saw significant participation from citizens of the local communities, with more than 50 people joining the event.
ArcheologicaMente ran in September 2023 and brought together archaeologists working at the Roman site of Vignale, citizens from the small village of Riotorto, local associations, users and health professionals from the Mental Health Unit of the nearby town of Piombino. Four pilot sessions in March 2023 helped to us to gain a general understanding of how the activities could work and be implemented. The aim of the programme, which was shared with all stakeholders, was to make the remains of the medieval castle of Vignale visible and to restore the network of footpaths, in need of maintenance following the neglect caused by the Covid pandemic. In a series of eight meetings, combining indoor and outdoor sessions, the participants in the ArcheologicaMente programme have succeeded in making the castle accessible through a footpath. The participants designed and installed three panels with information about the route, the castle and the historical monuments that can be seen from a panoramic viewpoint over the Gulf of Piombino. The programme concluded with a final event on 29 September 2023, the European Researchers’ Night. The event consisted of a walk from the village of Riotorto to the castle, followed by a dinner at the Riolab premises, accompanied by a reconstruction of a story in local folklore about the castle’s demise. With about 40 people joining the walk and 150 the dinner, the event was a fantastic conclusion for ArcheologicaMente.
'ΑρχαιοΛογικά' ran between October and December 2023, in the two municipalities of the Xeros river valley (Larnaca), Kophinou and Alaminos, and in Agios Theodoros, a third municipality located at the edge of the valley. The programme resulted from a co-design process initiated with the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) and the Cyprus Alliance for Rare Disorders and implemented with the support of the three municipalities, the Bishopric of Trimythous, and the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus. ΑρχαιοΛογικά has used the sacred landscape and memories of the Xeros river valley to embark on a journey of abandonment with local communities, individuals from other areas of Cyprus and the Huntington's disease (HD) community. ΑρχαιοΛογικά comprised a six-session programme that consisted of tailor-made indoor and outdoor activities. By looking at the heritage sites and exploring them through creative approaches based on writing and photography, the project encouraged discussions on the broader themes relating to the past history of the region, memory, and abandonment. The team working on the programme produced together a photographic exhibition, which took place on 9 December 2023 and included activities for children and a Christmas market organised in collaboration with the Huntington's Disease Association of Cyprus with the aim of raising awareness of HD. The event saw significant participation from citizens of the local communities, with more than 50 people joining the event.
LOGGIA was the first research project to demonstrate the positive impact of archaeology-based wellbeing activities in two Mediterranean countries. LOGGIA also took an original approach to promoting community wellbeing. Rather than designing and implementing activities for a specific vulnerable group, LOGGIA activities involved local communities, associations and individuals joining a programme and working together with selected vulnerable groups. Data collected during the two programmes in Italy and Cyprus showed an increase in the wellbeing of both people living with a disease and local communities. The latter groups showed a greater increase than the vulnerable groups. Qualitatively, the components that were more positively affected were trust and supportive relationships, demonstrating the value of the programmes in strengthening relationships and helping people to socialise through exploring the past. To this extent, LOGGIA advanced the state of the arts, implementing interventions with a different approach and proving with data their impacts.