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- Adolfsson, Johanna, 1986-
(författare)
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A new storm over the Naqab : The temporality of space in Israeli settler colonialism
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How can a posthumanist conceptualization of landscape, one that embraces temporality and practice, help us to better understand contemporary settler colonialism? This thesis explores this proposition through its analyses of the desire of the Israeli state to ‘settle’ the Naqab. The Naqab, an area located in the south of modern-day Israel and within its borders, is continuously narrated as under threat of being lost to the Palestinian Bedouins. In contrast to the breadth of scholarly attention given to the occupied Palestinian Territories, there is a relative paucity of studies focusing on the Naqab and on the Palestinian citizens of Israel living therein. Inspired by the concept of taskscape and, more broadly, by a posthumanist political ecology approach, in this thesis I seek to remedy the determinist undertones quite often found in settler colonial studies.The thesis’ empirical data draw from qualitative methods and field research in the Naqab, undertaken during multiple field visits between the 2018 and 2021. The thesis comprises a comprehensive summary (kappa) and three research papers. In Paper 1, I show how a schism between the Jewish National Fund and the civil society green movement surfaced amid land conflicts between the state and Bedouin villagers east of Beersheva. I argue that this schism offers insights into how nature is negotiated in relation to environmentalism and Zionist ideology. Further, I discuss how these negotiations point to an emerging new self-image of a post-settlement state that has abandoned pioneering, and replaced it with a planted forest (and natural) landscape as an emblem for Zionist nature. In Paper 2, I focus my attention on a network of Jewish villages in the Naqab. Based on a discourse analysis of YouTube videos produced by two Zionist organizations, I show how the narrative of Jewish relocation to the Naqab encompasses a modern re-enactment of the pioneering ideal, one mediated by a new neoliberal ethos of Israel as a ‘start-up nation’ and the Naqab as a new Israeli tech-hub. Finally, in Paper 3, I trace the cultural and political context of forest grazing in the Naqab. I argue that while the state uses afforestation as a proxy for territorialization, the irony is that it is the Bedouins who are largely responsible for everyday management of these forest areas, as grazing is a cost-effective method for keeping shrubs and other undergrowth low. I argue that in trying to accommodate grazing in the forest, policy makers struggle to juggle Bedouin land claims via continuous use and cultural connection to the land. Throughout the papers I affirm the performance of Israeli settler colonialism through the making of the natural environment. I assert that the tendency towards forest and grazing regulation, also articulated in planning policy, represents a move beyond the ‘era of pioneering’ towards a more formal type of society. I conclude by contending that the multiple spaces and temporalities presented in the paper’s case studies are indicative of contradictory narratives in the portrayal of the Naqab is and thus assemble as a necessity of the settlement ambition.
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| 3. |
- Ferrara, Vincenza, et al.
(författare)
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From landscape as heritage to biocultural heritage in a landscape : The ecological and cultural legacy of millennial land use practices for future natures
- 2022
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Ingår i: Landscape as heritage. - Abingdon; New York : Routledge. - 9781003195238 - 9781032046235 - 9781032049342 ; , s. 80-90
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many landscapes today, biological diversity is the ecological and cultural legacy of millennial interactions between land use practices and always changing environmental conditions. Thus, landscapes must be seen as heterogeneous, shaped through interacting different temporal and spatial scales. In our contribution we conceptualise biocultural heritage as space-time heterarchies, the endless results of repeated feedback between land use as human ecological process and the response of the ecosystems themselves. We provide the example of the olive intercropping landscape from a rural area of inner Sicily (Cozzo del Lampo hill, Villarosa), and we explore the potential of our conceptualisation for landscape heritage management. The discussion is centred on the acknowledgement of the “ecological function” played by place-based communities, as a key grounding step for the re-appropriation of our ecological engagement with landscape and place.
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| 4. |
- Ferrara, Vincenza, et al.
(författare)
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Scaffolding geospatial epistemic discomfort : a pedagogical framework for cross-disciplinary landscape research
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of geography in higher education. - 0309-8265 .- 1466-1845. ; , s. 1-11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current environmental crises call for an integrated knowledge of landscapes and their ecosystems in a broader sense. This article presents a pedagogical framework for cross-disciplinary landscape research at postgraduate level. The framework is grounded in the use of geospatial epistemic discomfort as a creative force to develop and enhance inquiry skills able to cross and merge disciplinary boundaries. Developed within the Erasmus+ KA2 project “CROSSLAND”, the pedagogical framework is based on the scaffolding of epistemic discomfort through four key didactic elements: 1) cross-disciplinary group work and open-ended assignment, 2) in-field inquiry as pre-training on space-time, 3) replacement of traditional lectures by student-led seminars, 4) GIS labs centred on the exploration of cross-disciplinary portfolios of geospatial approaches and methods given as worked-out examples. Main results from the evaluation of the framework implementation in a Summer School show how learning cross-disciplinarity happened thanks to a scaffolding that allowed, first and foremost, the socialisation of different conceptualisations of space. While students felt at ease with geospatial epistemic discomfort, we can conclude that spatial cognitive processes are powerful in improving abilities beyond the spatial domain.
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| 5. |
- Ferrara, Vincenza, et al.
(författare)
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Scaffolding geospatial epistemic discomfort : a pedagogical framework for cross-disciplinary landscape research
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of geography in higher education. - : Routledge. - 0309-8265 .- 1466-1845.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current environmental crises call for an integrated knowledge of landscapes and their ecosystems in a broader sense. This article presents a pedagogical framework for cross-disciplinary landscape research at postgraduate level. The framework is grounded in the use of geospatial epistemic discomfort as a creative force to develop and enhance inquiry skills able to cross and merge disciplinary boundaries. Developed within the Erasmus+ KA2 project “CROSSLAND”, the pedagogical framework is based on the scaffolding of epistemic discomfort through four key didactic elements: 1) cross-disciplinary group work and open-ended assignment, 2) in-field inquiry as pre-training on space-time, 3) replacement of traditional lectures by student-led seminars, 4) GIS labs centred on the exploration of cross-disciplinary portfolios of geospatial approaches and methods given as worked-out examples. Main results from the evaluation of the framework implementation in a Summer School show how learning cross-disciplinarity happened thanks to a scaffolding that allowed, first and foremost, the socialisation of different conceptualisations of space. While students felt at ease with geospatial epistemic discomfort, we can conclude that spatial cognitive processes are powerful in improving abilities beyond the spatial domain.
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| 8. |
- Jacobsson, Oscar, 1989-
(författare)
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När floden märkte marken : Om bruket av översvämningsmark längs med Emån och Ätran 1500–1910
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Large landscape transformations were an integral part of the agricultural revolution in Sweden, starting during the late 18th century. The 19th century was an especially intensive century when it comes to the transformation of the cultural landscape, not the least marked by extensive changes in the use of agricultural wetlands with interventions in watercourses, lowering of lakes and wetland reclamation. Many wetlands that had previously been used for meadows were now turned into arable fields.In this thesis, these changes are studied through a long-term perspective on floodplain land use along the rivers Emån and Ätran during the period 1500-1910 as part of a wider economy and reflecting the transformation of human-environmental relations. The studied period permits an analysis of the whole transformation process from floodplain meadows to arable fields, as well as covering some of the ensuing complexities of floodplain drainage during the 19th century. In the thesis, the relation between the floodplain and the agricultural economy is studied as well as the connections to the development of flood-related problems. Differences in 19th century floodplain reclamation by Emån and Ätran are analysed in detail. Lastly, the thesis discusses how the different conditions of the floodplain was handled over time and what this can tell us about human-environment relations from short- and long-term perspectives. Theoretical perspectives ranging from the ‘water system’ perspective, landesque capital, geographic constraint to processual landscapes are mobilized to further deepen this analysis. The empirical material consists of historical maps and a wider range of written sources combined with physical geographical data.The thesis concludes that flood-meadows played a more significant role in the agrarian economy by the river Emån during the early modern period, where flooding contributed to increased hay harvests. By the river Ätran, flood-meadows were extensive but did not differ significantly in yields from other types of meadows. The transformation from flood-meadows to arable fields were tied to intensified animal husbandry during the 19th century, with the need for other types of fodder and increasing water control and flood management. This was to a large part driven by processes related to agricultural globalization. By the river Emån, arable fields had already previously been located on raised parts of the floodplain, but transformations of grain production during the 18th century caused more substantial problems which also played into early 19th century reclamations. The local inhabitants did not reflect upon the effects of land use changes on the pattern of flooding problems, showing instead more interest in more direct changes to the water system such as mill dams, and natural obstructions in the river channel. Differences in the use of the floodplain by Emån and Ätran are also raised in the thesis, showing how humans in different contexts interact with variations of physical geography. A fundamental conclusion is that humans to a large extent tend to use natural resources for short-term gains within given economic contexts and have larger problems formulating solutions to long-term problems or foreseeing the long-term effects of current practices.
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| 9. |
- Karsvall, Olof, et al.
(författare)
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Fenced open-fields in mixed-farming systems : spatial organisation and cooperation in southern Sweden during the seventeenth century
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Historical Geography. - 0305-7488 .- 1095-8614. ; 80, s. 18-31
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The organisation of fields and fences in agriculture that emerged during the Middle Ages and the early modern period was a complex system that combined individual ownership of and communal practices in arable land, meadows and pastures. It was adapted for small and mid-size family-based farming and was a different way to organise agriculture than the medieval estates (demesnes) and the larger coherent fields of the eighteenth century and onwards. The past decade of research in historical geography and economic history has highlighted the origin of this system, which is often referred to as the open-field system; it was open in the sense that it promoted communal farming of primarily arable land. This pre-modern farming system was, however, in many areas a physically closed landscape – a landscape where fences stood out as significant elements. This article investigates the use of fences in a part of early modern western Sweden. The empirical base is a reconstruction of fence-organisations from detailed large-scale maps dating from the mid-seventeenth century. Using historical maps, this study focuses on the collaboration and interaction among farms and settlements. We argue that the open-field system cannot be fully understood without regard to an in-depth analysis of the fences and the institutions holding the complex collaboration together. The occurrence or absence of fences in relation to open-fields involves several questions: What are the characteristics of the fences in the farming systems known as open-field? What can be said about the spatial distributions and connections between the settlements sharing the same open-field? Can agrarian landscapes where fences were prominent elements be considered open-field? The results show that fences appear to be a key factor in understanding settlement patterns and open-fields in Scandinavian regions. A large number of fences created small fenced open-fields. Moreover, the divisions of the arable plots had less importance in the creation of open-fields, which included arable land, meadows and pastures. Instead, cross-settlement collaborations and arrangements are central for the open-fields in the study region. The regional differences within the open-field system provide an understanding of the preconditions and organisation of mixed farming, which combined small-scale arable land cultivation and large-scale pastures.
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| 10. |
- Ma, Li, et al.
(författare)
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The Poverty of Farmers in a Main Grain-Producing Area in Northeast China
- 2022
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Ingår i: Land. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-445X. ; 11:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Farmers' poverty has long been of global concern, mainly in poor rather than affluent areas. The goal of this paper is to better understand the range of poverty in the context of regional differentiation and to enrich knowledge on farmers' poverty in affluent areas and areas with good natural conditions. A questionnaire survey of poor farmers in the major grain-producing area of Changchun, Northeast China was conducted. Farmers' poverty was studied from income poverty and multidimensional poverty by intertwining qualitative and quantitative methods. The results indicate that low education levels and poor physical health were most prevalent in poor farmers, followed by income poverty and low living standards. Governmental policies and the macroeconomic situation in the agricultural sector, non-agricultural employment, aging, cultivated land, and family size correlated closely with farmers' poverty. The macro changes in policies and global trade liberalization in the agricultural sector impacted farmers' income through the prices of agricultural products and subsidies and influenced the effect of cultivated land. For poor farmers, the effect of employment opportunities in villages was more significant than in urban areas. Aging remains a challenge for farmers' poverty now and in the future.
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