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UK funding (£352,921): Toxic Heritage: Socio-natural Landscapes of Extraction and Pollution in the Harz and Cornwall Ukri1 Feb 2025 UK Research and Innovation, United Kingdom
Overview
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Toxic Heritage: Socio-natural Landscapes of Extraction and Pollution in the Harz and Cornwall
| Abstract | "Toxic Heritage" considers mining landscapes as tangible evidence of the profound human-induced transformations that have taken place over centuries in these subterranean and surface worlds. The far-reaching environmental consequences of mining have so far been neglected in its heritage narratives, overshadowed by stories of technological progress and economic development. The project will shift this focus by presenting toxic residues as an integral aspect of mining, constituting a demanding legacy that has influenced centuries of human-nature interactions. It will do so by developing an interdisciplinary, cutting-edge conceptualization of mining heritage that is underpinned by an ecological standpoint. Unlike previous iterations, this framing will be able to encompass the fundamental dynamics and interactions that have generated the multiple crises of the Anthropocene, humanity's geological epoch. The Harz Mountains in Central Germany and Cornwall in Southwest England, both inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in recognition of their extensive mining history, are the focus of this proposed project. Utilising a combination of historical research, ethnographic fieldwork, digital mapping and modelling, creative practice, and curatorial practice, the project team will explore and communicate the significant and far reaching environmental and social impacts of mining in these landscapes since the late medieval period. It will also unpack how these legacies continue to shape present-day identities and ecologies across both regions. The historical depth of our study, which extends from the pre-industrial period to the present, addresses an important research desideratum, as most research in historical, environmental and Anthropocene studies considering the environmental impacts of mining hardly look back beyond 19th century developments and practices. In contrast to the extensive body of work on mining history that concentrates on economic and technological aspects, the proposed project adopts a holistic perspective towards mining landscapes, their resources, and their material residues. We perceive mining landscapes as socio-natural entities consisting of intersecting material, social and symbolic dimensions, a viewpoint that admits a comprehensive, non-teleological view of mining as heritage. Consequently, the project challenges dualistic understandings of nature and culture and so can explore more fully intersections between social, economic, and political systems, and the biophysical systems of the planet. In this respect, the project aligns with other cutting-edge approaches that, in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene, attempt to explore and develop non-binary and more-than-human methods of research in international cooperation. The proposed project is using an interdisciplinary set of methods and will inform both academic and broader publics. We will employ ethnographic and archival research across the four study sites in combination with a digital GIS based database that will visualise and model the research data. Concurrent activities include the production of creative interventions, public engagement events with local stakeholders and the development of a public-facing touring exhibition that will make mining residues and toxic heritage tangible for local communities. The project will disseminate its research through academic publications and by establishing a public web presence supported by regular blog posts and GIS StoryMaps introducing the project's findings. By combining scientific, cultural, and artistic perspectives, the project seeks to emphasise the results of embracing a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of heritage, one that acknowledges the intertwined relationships between humans and the environment in a longue-durée perspective. |
| Category | Research and Innovation |
| Reference | AH/Z507465/1 |
| Status | Active |
| Funded period start | 01/02/2025 |
| Funded period end | 31/01/2028 |
| Funded value | £352,921.00 |
| Source | https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FZ507465%2F1 |
Participating Organisations
| Royal College of Art | |
| UNESCO World Heritage Foundation Harz | |
| Swansea University | |
| University of Augsburg | |
| Kresen Kernow | |
| Bauhaus University Weimar | |
| State Office for the Preser of Monuments | |
| Tamar Valley National Landscape | |
| German Mining Museum | |
| Cornish Mining World Heritage | |
| Max Planck Institutes | |
| Harz-Verein fur Geschichte und Altertums | |
| Cornwall Underground Adventures |
The filing refers to a past date, and does not necessarily reflect the current state. The current state is available on the following page: Royal College OF Art EXEMPT CHARITY, London.
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