TY - JOUR
T1 - History as grounds for interdisciplinarity
T2 - promoting sustainable woodlands via an integrative ecological and socio-cultural perspective
AU - Swanson, Heather Anne
AU - Svenning, Jens Christian
AU - Saxena, Alark
AU - Muscarella, Robert
AU - Franklin, Janet
AU - Garbelotto, Matteo
AU - Mathews, Andrew S.
AU - Saito, Osamu
AU - Schnitzler, Annik E.
AU - Serra-Diaz, Josep M.
AU - Tsing, Anna L.
N1 - Funding Information:
The foundational work for this article was undertaken collectively at a workshop convened in June 2018 by Aarhus University Research on the Anthropocene (AURA), a research project led by A.L.T. that was designed to foster interdisciplinary collaborations around pressing environmental issues. The authors would like to thank the Danish National Research Foundation’s Niels Bohr Professorship program, which funded both the project and this event, as well as Mia Korsbæk who provided administrative support. J.-C.S. considers this work a contribution to his VILLUM Investigator project “Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World” funded by Villum Fonden (grant 16549 ). H.A.S. considers this work a contribution to her Carlsberg Foundation Distinguished Associate Professor Fellowship (grant CF17-0872 ). O.S. considers this work a contribution to the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-15 Predicting and Assessing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services through an Integrated Social-Ecological Systems Approac h (PANCES): JPMEERF16S11500) of the Ministry of the Environment , Japan.
Funding Information:
The foundational work for this article was undertaken collectively at a workshop convened in June 2018 by Aarhus University Research on the Anthropocene (AURA), a research project led by A.L.T. that was designed to foster interdisciplinary collaborations around pressing environmental issues. The authors would like to thank the Danish National Research Foundation's Niels Bohr Professorship program, which funded both the project and this event, as well as Mia Korsb?k who provided administrative support. J.-C.S. considers this work a contribution to his VILLUM Investigator project ?Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World? funded by Villum Fonden (grant 16549). H.A.S. considers this work a contribution to her Carlsberg Foundation Distinguished Associate Professor Fellowship (grant CF17-0872). O.S. considers this work a contribution to the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-15 Predicting and Assessing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services through an Integrated Social-Ecological Systems Approach (PANCES): JPMEERF16S11500) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. All authors were involved in the conceptualization of the article and the drafting of the first blocks of text during a full-group workshop organized by A.S. H.A.S. R.M. J.-C.S. and A.L.T. All authors also provided comments on drafts. H.A.S. J.-C.S. and A.S. with some input from R.M. wrote and revised drafts and coordinated the overall article writing process. A.M. prepared Box 2. R.M. prepared figures. A.S. and H.A.S. managed the bibliography and final revisions. A.L.T. acquired funding, and also initiated, mobilized, and administered the project. J.-C.S. is a member of the One Earth advisory board.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2021/2/19
Y1 - 2021/2/19
N2 - While calls for interdisciplinary research in environmental contexts are common, it often remains a struggle to integrate humanities/qualitative social sciences insights with those of bio-physical approaches. We propose that cross-disciplinary historical perspectives can open new avenues for collaboration among social and natural scientists while expanding visions of possible future environments and management scenarios. We make these arguments through attention to woodlands, which are under pressure from complex socio-ecological stressors that can best be understood from interdisciplinary perspectives. By combining deep ecological and shallower social historical approaches, we show how history can both enrich our understandings of woodland pasts and provide a ground for better combining the case-based insights of humanistic history with those of deep-time ecological history. We conclude that such interdisciplinary historical approaches are important not only for research, but also for management (especially rewilding and scenario-building), as the surprisingly large range of past changes reminds us that future conditions can be more varied than typically acknowledged. This Perspective proposes that cross-disciplinary historical approaches can assist in improving collaborations among social and natural scientists and in expanding environmental management imaginaries. Through the example of woodlands, we illustrate how combining natural science insights on deep-time changes with social science research on histories of commercialization and industrialization can generate better understandings of socio-ecological dynamics. We emphasize that qualitative historical case studies have a place alongside other approaches in broadening visions of woodland futures via attention to pasts.
AB - While calls for interdisciplinary research in environmental contexts are common, it often remains a struggle to integrate humanities/qualitative social sciences insights with those of bio-physical approaches. We propose that cross-disciplinary historical perspectives can open new avenues for collaboration among social and natural scientists while expanding visions of possible future environments and management scenarios. We make these arguments through attention to woodlands, which are under pressure from complex socio-ecological stressors that can best be understood from interdisciplinary perspectives. By combining deep ecological and shallower social historical approaches, we show how history can both enrich our understandings of woodland pasts and provide a ground for better combining the case-based insights of humanistic history with those of deep-time ecological history. We conclude that such interdisciplinary historical approaches are important not only for research, but also for management (especially rewilding and scenario-building), as the surprisingly large range of past changes reminds us that future conditions can be more varied than typically acknowledged. This Perspective proposes that cross-disciplinary historical approaches can assist in improving collaborations among social and natural scientists and in expanding environmental management imaginaries. Through the example of woodlands, we illustrate how combining natural science insights on deep-time changes with social science research on histories of commercialization and industrialization can generate better understandings of socio-ecological dynamics. We emphasize that qualitative historical case studies have a place alongside other approaches in broadening visions of woodland futures via attention to pasts.
KW - case study approaches
KW - forest management
KW - historical perspectives
KW - natural science-social science collaborations
KW - woodlands sustainability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100981445&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85100981445&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.oneear.2021.01.006
DO - 10.1016/j.oneear.2021.01.006
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85100981445
SN - 2590-3330
VL - 4
SP - 226
EP - 237
JO - One Earth
JF - One Earth
IS - 2
ER -