Mediterranean wetlands, past and present
Interdisciplinary colloquium jointly organized by the Wetlands History Group (GHZH, Paris, France)
and
University of Padua (Italy) Padua - 20-22 September 2012
Call for papers
With Braudel's thesis on the Mediterranean in the age of Philip II, wetlands around the Mediterranean basin appeared like an essential testimony in the way whose societies can transform and tame a hostile environment in order to develop a powerful and brilliant civilization. However, it’s an ambivalent vision: if Anglo-Saxon historians regard Fernand Braudel as one of the intellectual godfathers of environmental history, recent developments in wetlands history need to put into perspective the great french historian’s view. Indeed, it is no longer possible to consider wetlands as uniformly repulsive spaces, only useful for human if drained and fitted as it was the case in the principles of the political economy since at least the 18th century.
If Mediterranean wetlands have specificity, it can’t solely be linked to the characteristics of physical geography. Early drainage schemes can be explained by climate specificities and hydrologic regimes, (seasonal variability and torrentiality of streams), contrast between mountain and plain (piedmont regions with often moist climatic conditions) and by the presence of malaria vectors (perfect breeding places for mosquitoes) because of climatic conditions.
Functional Mediterranean wetland typology and classification are complex and one needs to question about technical solutions specific to this region. Despite the abundance of water in some areas, the Mediterranean climate is characterized by long, dry, hot, and sunny summers that make necessary irrigations during part of the year.
The Mediterranean also is the place of a distinct history, first built from the early rise of great civilizations (Egyptian, Greek and Roman) and then from an opposition between Christian and Muslim worlds since the Middle Ages. The interactions between this classical history of civilizations (with their cultural and religious dimensions) and that of the environment must be studied through the case of wetlands.
Although the Venetian example is the best known, it can’t be erected as a model: on the contrary it is a very special case that should be compared to other forms of territorial models at different scales. Interest in hydraulic civilizations is renewed by an approach taking into account political and legal evolutions of the interactions between human societies and the natural environment. Law also is exploited to justify power relations. We must therefore wonder how legal arrangements interact with social changes and technical “breakthroughs”.
We would also wish to pay a special attention to the originality of non-European wetlands. Is there a history of Maghrebian wetlands which, with the roman colonization, the muslim splendor, the modern troubles, the french colonization and the post-independence politics would have made a particular geo-history? Similarly, can one identify a history of Egyptian
wetlands? One specific to the Mashriq countries, one of Turkey, or another one in the Greek world?
Thus, the rupture with the Braudelian scheme of historical temporalities must consist in mainly showing the spatio-temporal dynamics that drive and influence wetlands. Differences in the Braudelian conception of historical time keep a heuristic value, but the middle-term time is not only dictated by economic issues, in the same manner the short-term time can’t be reduced to political uncertainties.
There also are deep changes, sometimes rapid, in the human perception of wetlands. Indeed, despite the fact that they were, for a long time, regarded as unproductive and unhealthy spaces, wetlands have a major economic role, because they are in the midst of different uses such as the food supply (hunting, fishing, gathering, agriculture, etc.). Wetlands perception and representation is a problem related to their identification (e.g. regarding the vocabulary question, especially in the former sources). We will also wonder about forms of environmental management and development opportunities for these heterogeneous spaces facing with multiple challenges.
Both the role of memory and the construction of political issues through the forms of representation of the success over humid environment (when reference is made, for example, to the reuse of the Pontine, or Po river delta, marshes land reclamation projects to trigger political struggles at various times in history) show how important is a history of Mediterranean wetlands, attentive to both the nature of the sources and the spatio-temporal scales
Lastly, we shall consider political and social involvements concerning, water and marshes, or initiatives from the international community to conserve wetlands (e.g. Ramsar sites, Plan Bleu, Mediterranean wetlands-related LIFE projects, etc.), often resulting in creation of
« paper parks ».
Issues that the colloquium seeks to consider include:
1. Living near or in Mediterranean wetlands, yesterday and today
Questions related to the function of wetlands (coastal and inland wetlands) for local societies who lived in them will be discussed.
- wetlands and natural resources (uses and management practices across time and space ; resources assessment by societies, etc…) ;
- territorial and political conquests : issues about representation and control of Mediterranean wetlands ;
- responses of wetlands from political and social management practices of their resources.
2. Environmental protection and landscape evolution in wetlands
Mediterranean wetlands have specific particularities; they especially change more quickly than the other ecosystems, for reasons mainly related to environmental fluctuations. How human impacts interact with such changes? One will wonder then, from this perspective, about these “fluctuations” and how management and “conservation” of natural resource policies must take them into account.
- « birth » and destruction (e.g. desiccation and changes in the water regime) of wetlands
- effect of environmental factors (climatic variations, hydrologic regimes, biodiversity, anthropogenic contribution, etc…)
- geohistorical typology of Mediterranean wetlands articulating short and long-term historical times
3. Management and development pathways of Mediterranean wetlands: present day issues
Local development for territories where wetlands are central features: what are the prospects?
- uses and use conflicts ;
- conflicts, regulation and water right, importance of rural communities, cities and political authorities;
- challenges for both wetlands protection and redefinition of their functions 4. Wetlands and human health in a mediterranean context
We will endeavor to investigate the relationship between space and infectious diseases: how fevers may have played a prominent role as a « prime mover » in the transformation of landscapes.
- the effects of wetland-related diseases on demography and local population dynamics Moreover, fevers were among the first diseases to be the subject of attention from the medical profession.
- contribution of wetlands to the pharmacopoeia (animal or plant) because of their rich biodiversity
- vernacular and medical knowledges.
Proposals for oral presentations (20 minutes’ length) and poster presentations are solicited for this upcoming colloquium.
Abstracts of up to 2000-2500 characters, in french, italian or english, along with a title, name, affiliation and contact details should be jointly submitted by email to Magalie Franchomme (GHZH secretary, email: magalie.franchomme@gmail.com) and Sara Ariano (Department of Geography, University of Padua, email : saraari@gmail.com) and should indicate clearly how the content of the paper addresses the theme outlined above.
The final deadline for proposals is 30 avril 2012
