1,720,969 research outputs found
Ma che genere di isola è? L'insularità come archetipo femminile dall'età classica al Cinquecento
No full textL’associazione tra isole e figure femminili è un motivo culturale ricorrente. Il contributo si interroga sulle origini di questa associazione e sulle ragioni storiche, simboliche e geo-culturali che ne sono alla base, utilizzando miti, fonti letterarie e descrizioni geografiche. Vengono prese in considerazione, in particolare, l’età classica e quella medievale, fino agli esordi dell’età moderna
Stefano Malatesta, Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg, Shahida Zubair, David Bowen and Mizna Mohamed, Atolls of the Maldives. Nissology and Geography, Lanham, Boulder, New York and London, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
Full text linkIl volume, è nato sotto l’egida del Marine Research and High Education Center MaRHE presso l’isola di Magoodhoo (atollo di Faafu, Maldive), presenta un taglio interdisciplinare e un respiro internazionale. I contributi contenuti nel volume intessono un dialogo tra scienze ambientali e scienze della terra, da un lato, e scienze umane e sociali, dall’altro, facendo emergere temi e punti di vista su alcune dinamiche attuali che interessano
gli atolli maldiviani. La prospettiva è, dichiaratamente, quella ‘nissologica’ (McCall, 1994): un’impostazione essenzialmente postcoloniale che ha sottolineato la necessità di studiare i contesti insulari ‘per come sono’ e non in considerazione di immagini e nozioni imposte dall’esterno
1922-2022. Rileggere il paesaggio di bonifica alla luce della modernità
Full text linkRipensare oggi i paesaggi delle bonifiche realizzate nella bassa pianura veneta tra la fine
dell’Ottocento e la prima metà del Novecento significa scrutare un palinsesto territoriale sul quale sono
stati allora fermamente impressi i segni tangibili della modernità e del concetto di progresso che essa
portava con sé. In particolare, il Congresso Regionale delle Bonifiche del 1922, di cui ricorre il
centenario, è stato uno slancio verso la modernizzazione, in senso economico, sanitario e sociale. La
razionalizzazione dell’irrigazione, la conversione monocolturale, l’insediamento pianificato nelle case
coloniche e nei borghi, il lavoro agricolo stabile, la sicurezza idraulica perseguita con l’ausilio di mezzi
meccanici: il paesaggio geometrico e regolare che tali mutamenti ci hanno consegnato era la modernità
fatta campagna. Tuttavia, da allora, lustro dopo lustro, la patina del tempo si è andata depositando su quelle che, per
locuzione convenzionale, continuiamo a chiamare “terre nuove”. L’abbandono, gli effetti della subsidenza, i
nuovi eventi alluvionali, le superfetazioni hanno reso sempre meno leggibile il linguaggio moderno con il
quale il testo di quel paesaggio era stato riscritto, sopra il substrato paludoso
THE ‘WORLD’S MOST HAUNTED ISLAND’. Ghost narratives and practices around Poveglia, an abandoned island in the Venetian Lagoon.
No full textLocated in the Venetian Lagoon, the uninhabited island of Poveglia has recently gained global renown as ‘the world’s most haunted island’. This article reconstructs how this ghost island narrative originated and began to circulate and analyses the social, cultural and geographical preconditions that fostered it. It also considers how such a narrative rebounded on the island, attracting believers in the paranormal and tourists interested in ghosts. The research presented here is based on qualitative methods, such as the critical reading of various texts (social media content, newspaper articles, blogs, videos, pieces of music and television programmes) and semi-structured interviews with some of the involved actors. Behind an apparently trivial island narrative, the ‘in betweenness’ of ghosts (intended as cultural objects able to activate an emotional sphere that goes beyond the rational understanding of places) allows for a reconceptualization of the discontinuities of time and space, the disconnection between vernacular and academic cultures and many classical dichotomies assigned to insular spaces. The case of Poveglia demonstrates how ghosts can shape not only the way island narratives are told but also the way islands are approached and practiced.Located in the Venetian Lagoon, the uninhabited island of Poveglia has recently gained global renown as "the world's most haunted island". This article reconstructs how this ghost island narrative originated and began to circulate, and analyses the social, cultural and geographical preconditions that fostered it. It also considers how such a narrative rebounded on the island, attracting believers in the paranormal and tourists interested in ghosts. The research presented here is based on qualitative methods, such as the critical reading of various texts (social media content, newspaper articles, blogs, videos, pieces of music and television programmes) and semi-structured interviews with the involved actors. Behind an apparently trivial island narrative, the in-betweenness of ghosts (intended as cultural objects able to activate an emotional sphere that goes beyond the rational understanding of places) allows for a reconceptualisation of the discontinuities of time and space, the disconnection between vernacular and academic cultures and the classical dichotomies assigned to insular spaces. The case of Poveglia demonstrates how ghosts can shape not only the way island narratives are told, but also the way that islands are approached and practiced
Venezia di notte. Frontiera della colonizzazione turistica o spazio-tempo per pratiche sociali? Venice by night. Frontier of tourist colonization or space-time for social practices?
No full textGrowing tourist flows, continuous depopulation, rising tension between locals and visitors are three of the most severe issues affecting Venice’s historic centre. The aim of this paper is to explore if Venice’s night is a spatiotemporal frontier for touristification and if the re-interpretative practices of urban spaces and the expression of the “right to the city” occur during the night. The analysis develops a taxonomy of evening and night-time social activities in urban outdoor spaces and employs a qualitative methodological frame based on an ethnographic fieldwork structured through focused surveys and participant observation. In particular, the analysis focuses on urban night practices in the area of campo San Giacomo da l’Orio
Past, present, and future of the maritime Socotra: sustainable fishing tourism perspectives.
No full textThe Socotra Archipelago is universally renown because of its biodiversity, nonetheless the cultural heritage – such as the centuries-old culture of small fishing communities – is not of minor importance. Even though Socotra Island is still hardly accessible to mass tourism, the number of tourists visiting it has been increasing and fishing tourism is growing, attracting amateurs and professionals from all over the world. Our research, based on semi-structured interviews and observation during fieldwork, aims at investigating if and how tradition-based fishing tourism could be a source for extra income for fishermen of Socotra and at the same time how it could incentivize sustainable tourism development on the island. The paper analyses fishermen’s tangible and intangible heritage, as well as the current fishing tourism offer in order to outline a concrete proposal of community-based tourism
Ragūna no budō-orību saibai: Dentō to rikiddo-modaniti
No full textThis contribution focuses on agriculture in the water city of Venice and in its “lagoon countryside” in the past and at present. More specifically, we concentrate on two Mediterranean plants, vines and olive trees, together with the related production of wine and olive oil.
Through historic sources, we trace the diachronic development, the socio-environmental characteristics and the traditional practices of olive trees and vine growing, showing how they were conditioned by the watery context. Indeed, the condition of insularity, the salinity and the sandy nature of soils concurred to conform a “brackish terroir”, where original adaptive forms of managing vineyards and olive groves took shape.
Thanks to the analysis of aerial and satellite photos, fieldwork and interviews with various actors, we consider the survival or renewal of traditional viticulture and olive growing, but also some new forms appeared in the last years as an effect of the economic, social and cultural dynamics of wine and olive oil globalized consumption, as well as a spill-over of the progressive touristization of Venice.
This way, we show how viticulture or olive growing in the Lagoon of Venice are today in a condition of “liquid modernity” (Bauman, 2000): a fluid situation where traditional forms cohabit with new tendencies in wine and oil production chains
Volunteer Tourism and Lived Space. Representations and Experiences from Lesvos.
Full text linkOver the last few decades, the island of Lesvos (North Aegean, Greece) has become a stepping-stone in migrants’ routes to Europe, attracting volunteer tourism aimed at providing support to migrants.
Using the theoretical frame of Lefebvre’s triad, we investigate if and how the island is a lived space for volunteer tourists, what representations of this space they carry and their specific spatial practices not just as volunteers, but as tourists.
Through a survey, semi-structured interviews and participant observation, we illustrate the discrepancy between the symbolism associated with the representation of Lesvos and the direct experience volunteers have of the insular space. Nonetheless, some places in the capital Mytilene are characterized by spatialised lived experiences for volunteers, locals and migrants.In recent decades, the island of Lesvos (North Aegean, Greece) has become a stepping stone on migrants’ routes to Europe, attracting volunteer tourism aimed at providing support to migrants. Using the theoretical framework of Lefebvre’s triad, we investigate Lesvos as a lived space for volunteer tourists, the representations of the island space they carry and their spatial practices not only as volunteers but also as tourists. The choice of where to go to volunteer depends upon wider geopolitical context, and volunteers’ destinations (e.g. reception centres) are, stricto sensu, their working spaces. Nevertheless, during their free time, volunteers leave these spaces; specifically, we investigate this dimension of their experience. Through a survey, interviews and participant observation, we illustrate how volunteer tourists imbue the space of Lesvos with symbolic meanings, thus confirming their role in the humanitarian borderscape of the island; we further examine the ways in which they challenge the preconceived imaginaries of the island. Concurrently, we show how in specific places in the island’s capital Mytilene, the lived experience of volunteers creates deep connections between volunteers, migrants and locals, to the point that some spaces are co-produced or deeply transformed by the presence and practices of volunteers
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