Environmental humanities: an emerging field of transdisciplinary research

Schmidt, Matthias; Soentgen, Jens; Zapf, Hubert

doi:10.14512/gaia.29.4.6

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…On the other hand, based on our possibilistic approach, we, the human beings, have always meant to modify the natural environment at the individual and communal levels to meet our growing societal and biological demands (Lawrence et al 2013 ; Dutta et al 2016 ). Therefore, collectively environmental exploitation is increasing day by day through the transformation and intensification of human activities (Belton et al 2020 ; Schmidt et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From rice fields to brackish water farms: changing livelihoods in agrarian coastal Bengal, India

Goswami

Ghosal

2022

Asia-Pac J Reg Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study attempted to understand the dimensions of changing agrarian livelihoods because of haphazard adaptation of capitalistic shrimp aquaculture. Specifically, using multi-temporal Google-based geodatabase, we quantified the artificial conversion of agrarian landscape in an inland freshwater region of coastal Bengal. Further, we examined the long-term viability of transformed livelihoods by adopting a modified version of the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA). The assessment of changing livelihoods was based on empirical information acquired through field surveys, focus group discussion (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII). Results from the geostatistical analysis depicted that the shrimp culture in the research area was very recent. In 2010, only 0.03 percent of the total area was occupied by shrimp ponds. However, within a decade and an expansion rate of 18 percent/annum, the conversion spread to 1/3 of the total study area. The findings also clarified that the adaptation of shrimp cultivation increased the overall profit by 6400 USD/ha/year over agricultural output, and resulted in a quick rise in the standard of living for the shrimp farmers. However, in the long run, due to decreasing productivity and salinization of the surrounding land, the conversion resulted in massive depeasantization, augmentation of wasteland, and biased wealth accumulation led to a wide rich-poor gap. Therefore, the entire ecosystem will suffer in the near future, if the local government does not strictly impose Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From rice fields to brackish water farms: changing livelihoods in agrarian coastal Bengal, India

Goswami

Ghosal

2022

Asia-Pac J Reg Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The environmental humanities also provide further lenses through which soil can be studied. A range of scholarly approaches exist that understand environmental challenges as inextricable from social, cultural and human factors, including studying the imbrication of cultural, material and political ecologies [29]. The environmental humanities encompass a collection of disciplines and approaches, including environmental history, literary ecocriticism and environmental philosophy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent work, drawing on postcolonial, as well as ecocritical approaches, has increasingly emphasized the often exploitative, extractive and uneven connections through which human and non-human lives (e.g. the animals, plants and microbes that share the environment) are entangled today and through the long histories of capitalism and colonialism [29]. A recent review presented an agenda for the collaboration of social sciences, humanities and natural sciences in microbiome research [30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil as a transdisciplinary research catalyst: from bioprospecting to biorespecting

Tarnowski,

Varliero,

Scown

et al. 2023

R. Soc. open sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The vast microbial biodiversity of soils is beginning to be observed and understood by applying modern DNA sequencing techniques. However, ensuring this potentially valuable information is used in a fair and equitable way remains a challenge. Here, we present a public engagement project that explores this topic through collaborative research of soil microbiomes at six urban locations using nanopore-based DNA sequencing. The project brought together researchers from the disciplines of synthetic biology, environmental humanities and microbial ecology, as well as school students aged 14–16 years old, to gain a broader understanding of views on the use of data from the environment. Discussions led to the transformation of ‘bioprospecting’, a metaphor with extractive connotations which is often used to frame environmental DNA sequencing studies, towards a more collaborative approach—‘biorespecting’. This shift in terminology acknowledges that genetic information contained in soil arises as a result of entire ecosystems, including the people involved in its creation. Therefore, any use of sequence information should be accountable to the ecosystems from which it arose. As knowledge can arise from ecosystems and communities, science and technology should acknowledge this link and reciprocate with care and benefit-sharing to help improve the wellbeing of future generations.

show abstract

Thinking Beyond Borders: How Can Humanities and Social Sciences Help to Deal with Climate Change Health Hazards in the Twenty-First Century? Outputs of the Transdisciplinary Network “Composing Worlds: Humanities, Well-being and Health in the 21st century”

Vidal

Lencastre

Magalhães

et al. 2023

Climate Change Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Environmental humanities: an emerging field of transdisciplinary research

Cited by 11 publications

References 13 publications

From rice fields to brackish water farms: changing livelihoods in agrarian coastal Bengal, India

From rice fields to brackish water farms: changing livelihoods in agrarian coastal Bengal, India

Soil as a transdisciplinary research catalyst: from bioprospecting to biorespecting

Thinking Beyond Borders: How Can Humanities and Social Sciences Help to Deal with Climate Change Health Hazards in the Twenty-First Century? Outputs of the Transdisciplinary Network “Composing Worlds: Humanities, Well-being and Health in the 21st century”

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About