Descrizione del progetto
Il ruolo delle regioni periferiche nell’urbanizzazione
Una gran parte della ricerca che studia il ruolo svolto dai centri urbani capitalisti in Europa presta scarsa attenzione a luoghi remoti quali l’Irlanda occidentale o le regioni interne della Scandinavia. Ciononostante, gli studi archeologici e paleoambientali hanno rivelato l’esistenza di interazioni tra le aree periferiche e i centri urbani industriali. Il progetto OutNorth, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà un innovativo metodo incentrato sulle periferie che integra esplorazioni archeologiche, campionamenti ambientali, prove storiche trascurate, operazioni di telerilevamento basate su SIG e indagini digitali sul campo al fine di studiare la crescita capitalista nell’Europa nord-occidentale (all’incirca tra il 1400 e il 1900) e le interazioni tra zone urbane e periferiche. Il progetto concentrerà l’attenzione sull’Irlanda sud-occidentale, determinando il ruolo svolto dai pastori delle aree periferiche nella fornitura di alimenti alle zone urbani industriali dell’Europa nord-occidentale, ed effettuerà un’analisi comparativa nella Svezia occidentale.
Obiettivo
OutNorth will develop a novel periphery-centred approach to the growth of north-west Europe's capitalist urban centres (AD1400-1900) by examining their dependence on outland producers of cattle and dairy. Most studies of capitalism's rise have focused on urban-industrial 'cores' and their agricultural hinterlands, neglecting distant places like western Ireland and inner Scandinavia. Yet recent archaeological and palaeo-environmental fieldwork suggests outlands were once valuable and could sustain complex livestock-rearing systems.
Focusing on south-west Ireland, OutNorth will build a multi-level approach which determines the active role of outland pastoralists in supplying NW Europe’s core areas with food - from their use of mountain pastures and (re)negotiation of community structures, to their trade and interaction with specific urban-industrial centres. It will accomplish this by integrating the results of recent archaeological surveys and environmental sampling with neglected historical evidence, GIS-based remote sensing and digital field survey. By basing its analysis in the landscape, OutNorth will challenge the assumption that peripheral farmers’ actions were dictated by 'the outside world'. It will show instead how socio-ecological factors shaped their engagement with markets, and in turn influenced growth in core areas. Comparative analysis in western Sweden will provide a means of testing this approach in a different socio-political and environmental context, ensuring replicability.
OutNorth’s long-term view of farming will make a timely contribution to the EU’s strategy on sustainable food production. Having arranged a collaboration with a major new European Innovation Partnership on upland farming, the researcher will organise a series of community events to highlight the valuable biocultural heritage of pastoralism. Together, they will discuss how historical lessons on overgrazing and social change might be integrated into future land-use management.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
751 05 Uppsala
Svezia