Theme:
2. Net Zero Archaeologies – Sustainability in the Past, Present and Future
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
CANCELLED Vulnerability and Resilience in Archaeology – Current Questions, Methodological Synergies and Future Perspectives
Content:
In the face of global warming, pandemics, war, energy shortages and many other challenges, vulnerability and resilience are high on current agendas. It is therefore no coincidence that resilience – and more recently also vulnerability – are increasingly being studied in many branches of archaeology, from Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers to the urban societies of historic times. For all these marvellous societies, archaeologists are considering just how vulnerable or resilient they were to climatic fluctuations, volcanic eruptions, wars, pandemics, environmental degradation or ecological collapse. The diversity of theoretical approaches matches this cultural diversity. Various forms of “Resilience Theory” and disaster risk research are applied, as are the notions of “Adaptive Cycles”, “Political and Cultural Resilience”, “Social Resilience” or “Vulnerability”. Variable qualitative and quantitative methods for the study of these have been applied, contributing with important perspectives and novel approaches. However, the great variety of theories, methods, and data makes comparisons across studies challenging, thus limiting our possibilities for achieving clearly benchmarked, cumulative insights regarding the importance of environmental and socio-political changes for societies of the human past. This session seeks to bring together current research on this topic to discuss, compare and contrast different approaches based on the following questions: what are the objectives of resilience and vulnerability research? What overarching questions are driving research? Which theories and methods are used? What kinds of data are compiled and analysed? Are there methodological transfer possibilities, overarching insights, and synergies between the different fields of resilience and vulnerability research? If so, can we raise new questions or develop new perspectives? We invite all archaeologists working on resilience and vulnerability in academic research to participate in the discussion with theoretical, methodological, and case study-oriented papers.
Keywords:
resilience, vulnerability, disaster management, human challenges, theories and methodologies, interdisciplinary perspectives
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Caroline Heitz (Switzerland) 1,2
Co-organisers:
Felix Riede (Denmark) 3,4
Ingar Gundersen (Norway) 5
Affiliations:
1. University of Bern, Institute for Archaeological Sciences
2. University of Bern, Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research
3. Aarhus University, Department of Archeology and Heritage Studies
4. iCLIMATE Aarhus University Interdisciplinary Centre for Climate Change
5. University of Oslo, Museum of Cultural History
THIS SESSION CAN NOT BE SELECTED AT THIS MOMENT