Understanding and Recreating Historical Landscapes through Oral History, Architectural and Archival Research—A Methodology: The Case of the Royal Gardens of Rajnagar, Bundelkhand

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nishant Upadhyay ◽  
Anjaneya Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Research Survey

Bundelkhand lies in the central part of India including 6 districts in northern Madhya Pradesh and 7 districts in southern Uttar Pradesh (13 districts in total). In Bundelkhand, a series of walled gardens of similar type (presumably of second half of the eighteenth/beginning of the nineteenth century) can be seen all across the region. These gardens are part of the social and cultural life of the Bundeli people, but still their historical and cultural values cannot be ascertained. Thus, in order to understand these gardens, a very detailed understanding of the regional landscape needs to be developed. This research article aims to understand and regenerate the cultural landscape of Rajnagar in Bundelkhand based on archival research, architectural documentation and oral history narratives. The article elaborates upon the methodology followed to obtain sufficient information about the original planning, design and functions of the gardens, and the sociocultural spatial configuration of historical Rajnagar. Architectural and oral surveys were undertaken to generate data at settlement and garden level along with the archival research. Survey of the oral history regarding the settlement and general association with the gardens immensely facilitated to position the gardens in the historical context, given the lack of archival evidence. The interpolation of the three sources of data allowed to understand the pattern of evolution of the historical settlement of Rajnagar and the connections with the royal gardens within the settlement. Apart from furthering the understanding about these unique urban landscape phenomenon, the survey results contribute to the preparation of a sustainable tourism development plan for the royal Bundeli gardens of Rajnagar by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Belgium. The multiple oral and architectural surveys also raised awareness within the town about the historical Bundeli garden landscapes.

scholarly journals Cultural landscape management through the application of environmental certifications

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (74) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalia Coelho Sozzi de Moraes
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Urban Management ◽  
Environmental Certification

Environmental certifications are a tool that aims to measure and evaluate the environmental quality of buildings and their surroundings, with potential collaboration in urban planning. Among the various cultural landscapes that constitute the cities, the historical landscapes can report unique images of urban places, acting as testimonies of the past, which establish connections with the present and serve as reference for the construction of the future. Thus, the need to work the heritage field in sustainable urban management policies is demonstrated. Based on analytical research in the fields of environmental certification and cultural landscape, and documentary research on the Urban-Landscape Set on Avenida Köeler, in the Historic Center of Petrópolis/RJ, the possibility of certifying the set through AQUA/HQE - Neighborhoods was assessed. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of the environmental certification instrument with regard to the maintenance of historical and cultural values ​​and to the physical conservation of this complex. In addition to meeting the objectives and indicators, the opportunity to establish an urban management program to achieve with excellence the performance of high environmental quality is evident. This study also shows that when analyzing the certification guidelines, as far as the cultural dimension is concerned, a review is needed to better cover the heritage issue, to establish specific guidelines for the conservation of existing landscapes as an incentive to the preservation and promotion of urban quality for current and future generations.

scholarly journals Original historical spatial development research methodology

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 18-23
Author(s):  
Dominika Kuśnierz-Krupa
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Spatial Development ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
The Past ◽  
Third Stage ◽  
History Of

The aim of this article is to present an original methodology that was prepared for the research concerning the history of spatial development of historic towns and their conservation protection. The methodology, already repeatedly verified by the Author in the course of research on the origins, urban model and restoration of selected medieval towns in Poland, is universal and so applicable also during the research carried out in towns outside Poland. In this article it will be exemplified by the studies on the spatial development of the medieval town of Skawina located in Lesser Poland. The methodology consists of five stages. The first stage of research involves the so called “desk study”, which is conducted in selected archives, both in the country where the selected town is located, and abroad. The second stage involves field research in the analysed town. The research is accompanied by an inventory of the area of the chartered town, including its preserved elements such as e.g. the market square, the settlement block or the settlement plot. Photographic documentation is also collected during field research. The third stage of research uses aerial archaeology to analyse the urban layout of a given town. The fourth stage involves confronting the research results obtained at previous stages, primarily comparing archive plans and aerial photographs, as well as analysing them in order to identify changes occurring in the urban layout of the studied town. The final, fifth stage involves assessing the cultural values and the necessary methods for protecting the analysed historic town. The discussed methodology allows for drawing conclusions combined with hypotheses concerning the shape and functional-spatial structure of the examined town in the past, as well as its current values in the context of protecting the cultural landscape. The need to prepare it sprang from the current situation in historic towns which are not always properly protected, and scientific studies of their history are often insufficient. The situation and the need for better protection of historic towns has also been indicated in international documents prepared by the ICOMOS and UNESCO, such as the International Charter on the Conservation of Historic Towns of the ICOMOS from 1987, and the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the historic urban landscape from 2011.

scholarly journals Restoration of identity of the Ural industrial city through architectural and landscape reconstruction

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-34
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Nikolaevich Gushchin ◽  
Marina Nikolaevna Divakova
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Urban Identity ◽  
Industrial Heritage ◽  
Industrial City ◽  
Landscape Reconstruction ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
The City

The article considers the problem of restoring the urban identity of a typical Ural city. In a historical context, typicality is understood as a commonality of origin. Currently, the Ural cities are in urgent pursuit of their own identity, which in the author sees as a reflexive social need of belonging to a place. It is reasonable to consider that the urban landscape plays an important role in the formation of identity. The article gives examples of the formation of social identity based on cultural landscape of the city. It is established that the industrial heritage of the Ural industrial city manifests as the grounds for the formation of its identity. Architectural and landscape reconstruction serves as the key method for the formation of identity. The author gives recommendations pertaining to implementation of such reconstruction. The main conclusion consists in the statement that a typical way of formation of identity of the Ural industrial city is the architectural and landscape reconstruction of its central area, which includes the following objects: city pond, dam, plant facilities and temple on the premises, house of the mining engineer. Namely the architectural and landscape reconstruction of this industrial heritage allows restoring the urban identity.

Nimíciwinán, nipimátisiwinán – “Our food is our way of life”: On-Reserve First Nation perspectives on community food security and sovereignty through oral history in Fisher River Cree Nation, Manitoba

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shailesh Shukla ◽  
Jazmin Alfaro ◽  
Carol Cochrane ◽  
Cindy Garson ◽  
Gerald Mason ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Community Food Security ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Indigenous Foods ◽  
Oral History Interviews

Food insecurity in Indigenous communities in Canada continue to gain increasing attention among scholars, community practitioners, and policy makers. Meanwhile, the role and importance of Indigenous foods, associated knowledges, and perspectives of Indigenous peoples (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014) that highlight community voices in food security still remain under-represented and under-studied in this discourse. University of Winnipeg (UW) researchers and Fisher River Cree Nation (FRCN) representatives began an action research partnership to explore Indigenous knowledges associated with food cultivation, production, and consumption practices within the community since 2012. The participatory, place-based, and collaborative case study involved 17 oral history interviews with knowledge keepers of FRCN. The goal was to understand their perspectives of and challenges to community food security, and to explore the potential role of Indigenous food knowledges in meeting community food security needs. In particular, the role of land-based Indigenous foods in meeting community food security through restoration of health, cultural values, identity, and self-determination were emphasized by the knowledge keepers—a vision that supports Indigenous food sovereignty. The restorative potential of Indigenous food sovereignty in empowering individuals and communities is well-acknowledged. It can nurture sacred relationships and actions to renew and strengthen relationships to the community’s own Indigenous land-based foods, previously weakened by colonialism, globalization, and neoliberal policies.

scholarly journals “Why Not Nuevo Mexicano Studies?”: Interrogating Latinidades in the Intermountain West, 1528–2020

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Ed A. Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Intermountain West ◽  
Institutional Processes ◽  
Historical Essay ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
Group Diversity ◽  
Shed Light

While there has been an explosion of scholarly interest in the historical and contemporary social, economic, and political status of U.S. Latinx individuals and communities, the majority focuses on traditional Southwestern U.S., Northeastern U.S., and South Florida rural/urban enclaves. Recent “New Destinations” research, however, documents the turn of the 21st century Latinx experiences in non-traditional white/black, and rural/urban Latinx regional enclaves. This socio-historical essay adds to and challenges emerging literature with a nearly five-century old delineation of Latinidad in the Intermountain West, a region often overlooked in the construction of Latina/o identity. Selected interviews from the Spanish-Speaking Peoples in Utah Oral History and Wyoming’s La Cultura Hispanic Heritage Oral History projects shed light on Latinidad and the adoption of Latinx labels in the region during the latter third of the 20th century centering historical context, material conditions, sociodemographic characteristics, and institutional processes in this decision. Findings point to important implications for the future of Latinidad in light of the region’s Latinx renaissance at the turn of the 21st century. The region’s increased Latino proportional presence, ethnic group diversity, and socioeconomic variability poses challenges to the region’s long-established Hispano/Nuevo Mexicano Latinidad.

Working Through Colonial Collections

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margareta von Oswald
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Everyday Activity ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Working Through ◽  
German Colonialism ◽  
Oral History Interviews

What are the possibilities and limits of engaging with colonialism in ethnological museums? This book addresses this question from within the Africa department of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. It captures the Museum at a moment of substantial transformation, as it prepared the move of its exhibition to the Humboldt Forum, a newly built and contested cultural centre on Berlin’s Museum Island. The book discusses almost a decade of debate in which German colonialism was negotiated, and further recognised, through conflicts over colonial museum collections. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork examining the Museum’s various work practices, this book highlights the Museum’s embeddedness in colonial logics and shows how these unfold in the Museum’s everyday activity. It addresses the diverse areas of expertise in the Ethnological Museum – the preservation, storage, curation, and research of collections – and also draws on archival research and oral history interviews with current and former employees. Working through Colonial Collections unravels the ongoing and laborious processes of reckoning with colonialism in the Ethnological Museum’s present – processes from which other ethnological museums, as well as Western museums more generally, can learn.

“With God’s help, act in favor of Ukraine”: unknown letters of Fedir Ernst to Adelaida Artiukhova (1927–1929)

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-30
Author(s):  
O.V. Pryn
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Joint Work ◽  
Central State ◽  
Contact Points ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Museum Exhibitions ◽  
The Crimea ◽  
Chronological Period ◽  
State Archives

In the article, the author studies the correspondence of F. Ernst and A. Artiukhova. The found complex of letters covers the chronological period from 28.09.1927 to 01.12.1929 and belongs to the time of their joint work in Taras Shevchenko All-Ukrainian Historical Museum. F. Ernst was a head of art department of the museum then, and A. Artiukhova worked as an assistant from 1927. Simultaneously with working in the museum, from 1926 F. Ernst worked as Kyiv krai inspector for protection of cultural heritage, and from 1929 he was the member of Parity Commission for Cultural Valuables Exchange between RSFSR and Ukrainian SSR. The letters, found in Central State Archives of Public Organizations in Ukraine in fund 263 “Individuals repressed by GPU-NKVD-KGB during the 1920–1950s in Kyiv and Kyiv region” in the archival investigative case No. 64684 FP, and were the evidence in the case of accusation of Adelaida Artiukhova of “counter-revolutionary nationalist activity”. All the charges were reduced to a personal acquaintance with F. Ernst, who was already deported at that time. The found archival sources allow to reconstruct in more detail the biography of Adelaida Volodymyrivna Artiukhova and her personal contribution to the replenishment of the art collection of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Historical Museum. A. Artiukhova was born in 1902 in the city of Kyiv. In 1920–1923, she studied at the Kyiv Institute of Public Education and the Kyiv Archaeological Institute. In 1924, she began working at the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Historical Museum (UHM) in Kyiv as a laboratory assistant of the art department. During 1927-1929, together with F. Ernst, she was returning cultural values from the museums of the Russian Federation, replenishing the UHM collection, and for this purpose often visited the museums of Moscow and Leningrad, studying their collections and museum work in general. The texts of the letters are published without any reductions. Phonetic and orthographic features of the document language are preserved. The letters give an opportunity to immerse in the historical context of the museum life of one of the leading museums of Ukraine, to study into inter-museum cooperation, etc. F. Ernst’s epistolary reveals the contact points of the researchers, shows their friendly style of communication and the topics they discussed. Throughout the correspondence, there are three main topics: the activity of the art department of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Historical Museum (exhibitions and collections), cooperation and return of paintings from Russian museums, and everyday life (rest of the scholars in the Crimea and Odessa). All letters are very informative; they show the internal activities of the art department of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Historical Museum: replenishment of the collection, exhibiting activity, scholarly contacts. The letters reveal the complex inter-museum relations of UHM with Russian museums and the role of personal contacts of scholars. It was found out that A. Artiukhova, who used F. Ernst’s personal connections and acquaintances for the benefit of the museum, had a significant influence on the implementation of the large replenishment of UHM.

scholarly journals PLANNING OF PRIVATE GATED DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF GATED VS NON-GATED NEIGHBOURHOODS, CITY OF GURUGRAM, INDIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajay Kaushik
Keyword(s):  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Space Syntax ◽  
Gated Community ◽  
Neighbourhood Environment ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
The City

The cities are expanding rapidly all over the world. India has also experienced this phenomenon and has continued the pace of growth. The recent trends in spatial growth of the cities are a new phenomenon in Indian urban landscape. The cities in India are witnessing development with the help of private developers for the last couple of decades. Being private properties these are by nature of exercising control have gates and boundaries. In scholarly literature these are called as Gated Community/Gated Development. Authors have argued them from various perspectives of anthropology, law, management and sociology etc. but very little has been discussed about their planning and morphology. Although, the rise of Gated Development is majorly attributed to the sense of fear and need for security, yet architects and urban designers, and even sociologist stress upon other methods to make the neighbourhoods secured. Hence the security aspects are not made part of the research here. The aspects of how these gated development impacts the perception of neighbourhood by residents is not touched upon. The paper discusses the distinction between the gated and non-gated neighbourhoods and also how residents perceive their neighbourhoods at large. For explaining this phenomenon, three neighbourhoods in the city of Gurugram in Haryana state in India have been identified as case study. These are identified on the basis of different morphological images that are identified. Space syntax and space cognition through sketch mapping is used for the analysis of the three neighbourhoods. The paper suggest that the continuity and connectivity of any spatial configuration is of utmost importance to make neighbourhood environment worthy of living life more socially connected.

scholarly journals Évaluation de degré de défense de l’architecture défensive pré-coloniale en Algérie : cas des villages fortifiés

X ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohand Oulmas ◽  
Amina Abdessemed-Fouda ◽  
Ángel Benigno González Avilés
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Geometrical Shape ◽  
Defense System ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
The Relationship

Assassing the defensibility of the pre-colonial defensive architecture in Algeria: case study on the medieval fortified villagesAlgeria’s pre-colonial towns of the medieval period still exist in different typologies, ranging from the isolated buildings (forts, castles) and town enclosures to whole urban units (fortified villages, defensives towns). Indeed, the constituent of these fortresses was their defense system, characterized by its large dimension, constituted essentially by the enclosure wall, and architectural features of defensiveness correlated with the outside and the inside of the fortresses. This paper aims to evaluate the relationship between physical landscape, built defensive features and cultural values of the medieval fortified villages in Algeria, two medieval fortified villages in our case “Kalaa of Beni Abbes” in Bejaia and “Kalaa of Beni Rached” in Oran, that we identified as an evolved landscape and interpreted as complex system (both defensive architecture and continuing cultural landscape). This current study consists of quantifying the defensiveness degree of these sites situated within different contexts, in fact, this method ensures to identify the strategy adopted to be protected against different invasions. However, in order to achieve this we calculate a spatial defensiveness index (DI) of these sites. The parameters of our choice are related to the implantation site, the elevation, the visibility and the geometrical shape, which allow us to estimate the defensiveness degree of the defense system of our case studies.

scholarly journals SURVEI SIDE SCAN SONAR DALAM PENELITIAN ARKEOLOGI BAWAH AIR DI PERAIRAN SUNGAI: STUDI KASUS PADA DAERAH ALIRAN SUNGAI BRANTAS [SIDE SCAN SONAR SURVEY IN RIVERINE UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH: CASE STUDY IN THE BRANTAS BASIN]

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Agni Mochtar ◽  
Firman Setiawan ◽  
Shinatria Adhityatama
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Side Scan Sonar ◽  
Maritime Cultural Landscape ◽  
Old Maps ◽  
Low Visibility ◽  
Survey Results

Aplikasi metode geofisika menggunakan side scan sonar dalam penelitian arkeologi bawah air belum banyak dilakukan di Indonesia. Tulisan ini memaparkan penggunaan side scan sonar untuk pemetaan dasar sungai dan identifikasi tinggalan arkeologi di dasar sungai dalam penelitian “Sungai Brantas dalam Perspektif Lanskap Kultur Maritim”, serta interpretasi hasil survei side scan sonar tersebut dalam konteks kesejarahan. Selain itu, dalam tulisan ini akan dibahas potensi pengembangan penggunaan side scan sonar dalam penelitian arkeologi bawah air di Indonesia, terutama di perairan sungai. Akuisisi data dilakukan dengan menggunakan side scan sonar Starfish 450H dengan sistem posisi GNSS Trimble R8s. Sementara itu, interpretasi diperoleh dengan melakukan analisis terhadap data peta dan arsip Belanda untuk memahami konteks temporal dari objek yang dideteksi oleh alat side scan sonar. Survei berhasil menunjukkan sedimen di dasar sungai berupa lempung dan lanau, serta beberapa objek yang diduga sebagai bangkai kapal, yang diperkirakan berasal dari pasca abad ke-19 Masehi. Hasil survei side scan sonar menunjukkan tingkat akurasi cukup hingga tinggi dan dapat menjadi pendukung penelitian arkeologi bawah air yang efisien, terutama di perairan yang keruh. Side scan sonar survey as one of the geophysics methods is still scarcely applied in underwater archaeological research in Indonesia. This paper describes the application of side scan sonar survey in mapping riverbed and identifying underwater archaeological remains in the “Sungai Brantas in the Perspective of Maritime Cultural Landscape” project, as well as interpreting its historical context based on survey results. This paper also explores the development of utilizing side scan sonar in underwater archaeological research in Indonesia, particularly in rivers. Data was acquisitioned by using the side scan sonar Starfish 450H and GNSS Trimble R8s positioning system. The interpretation was drawn by analysing related Dutch old maps and archives to understand the historical context of the survey findings. The result shows clay and silt sediment covering most of the riverbed and a number of objects, possibly shipwrecks, estimated as from the nineteenth century. The survey result has a medium to high accuracy. Thus, this method is able to serve as an efficient instrument for underwater archaeological research, especially in the low-visibility waters.

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