Devastation, dislocation and (re-)settlement. Breaking/replacing the people-place connection in landscape
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of History, Classics and Archaeology
Abstract
'Destruction, dislocation and (re)-settlement' will explore the social and cultural impact of the rapid and fundamental devastation of a
landscape. Using a broad understanding of 'landscape' as a societal seat of people's identity and connection with their environment (which foregrounds the role of perception in the construction of landscape), we will research the landscape impact of deliberate human actions, exemplified by war and social domination, rather than destruction caused by 'natural' events, nor on the transformations of landscape caused by very long-term processes. We will focus on two types of destruction: the devastation of a landscape in both material and mental dimensions, and the dislocation of a community or society from their landscape by forced migration or diaspora. We will use historical examples to explore the mechanisms of destruction and the aftermath and adaptation that arises from it. Broadly, we aim to understand how deliberate devastation of landscapes impacts on communities beyond the economic and functional level, and more specifically whether sudden devastation or dislocation leads to disempowerment, creates options for empowerment or acts as a catalyst for social change. We will also study the factors that affected recovery and response, including societal resilience, and explore the societies that emerged as a consequence of the disruption of the people-place relationship that is landscape.
Our primary case study will be the devastation of The Palatinate by French armies in 1689-1693, with its consequences for both the destruction of landscape, and the relocation of its peoples to 'new' landscapes in England (and thence, often, to English plantations in Ireland and North America). This major case study thus links our two countries in a very direct manner. Our research will be further illuminated by assembling an 'anthology' of less detailed case studies drawn from existing research. They will help us to contextualise our primary Palatinate case study in a broader historical and geographical frame. The anthology will include topics such as major enforced land reorganisations in contexts from colonial Ireland to Soviet-era Ukraine, the re-shaping of twentieth-century cities after war and during modernist replanning, and the impact of forced migration. All these case studies, although historically situated, will all have topical relevance to present day and future challenges; equally our results will have resonance for future policy concerned with landscape planning and design.
landscape. Using a broad understanding of 'landscape' as a societal seat of people's identity and connection with their environment (which foregrounds the role of perception in the construction of landscape), we will research the landscape impact of deliberate human actions, exemplified by war and social domination, rather than destruction caused by 'natural' events, nor on the transformations of landscape caused by very long-term processes. We will focus on two types of destruction: the devastation of a landscape in both material and mental dimensions, and the dislocation of a community or society from their landscape by forced migration or diaspora. We will use historical examples to explore the mechanisms of destruction and the aftermath and adaptation that arises from it. Broadly, we aim to understand how deliberate devastation of landscapes impacts on communities beyond the economic and functional level, and more specifically whether sudden devastation or dislocation leads to disempowerment, creates options for empowerment or acts as a catalyst for social change. We will also study the factors that affected recovery and response, including societal resilience, and explore the societies that emerged as a consequence of the disruption of the people-place relationship that is landscape.
Our primary case study will be the devastation of The Palatinate by French armies in 1689-1693, with its consequences for both the destruction of landscape, and the relocation of its peoples to 'new' landscapes in England (and thence, often, to English plantations in Ireland and North America). This major case study thus links our two countries in a very direct manner. Our research will be further illuminated by assembling an 'anthology' of less detailed case studies drawn from existing research. They will help us to contextualise our primary Palatinate case study in a broader historical and geographical frame. The anthology will include topics such as major enforced land reorganisations in contexts from colonial Ireland to Soviet-era Ukraine, the re-shaping of twentieth-century cities after war and during modernist replanning, and the impact of forced migration. All these case studies, although historically situated, will all have topical relevance to present day and future challenges; equally our results will have resonance for future policy concerned with landscape planning and design.
Publications
Van Duijvenvoorde J
(2023)
The importance of landscape for identity in the aftermath of devastation and dislocation past and present
in Journal of European Landscapes
| Description | This was an interdisciplinary research project and network operating 2022 to 2024 that was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (van Duijvenvoorde et al 2023). The project was centred on two early modern case studies of the Rhineland palatinate in the 1690s and afterwards, which were then extended with 'satellite' research being carried out by colleagues in Germany, Britain and beyond working in a wider range of periods and places, principally from historically and archaeologically-informed disciplinary perspectives. The Devastation project as a whole explored the intertwined processes of landscape and identity formation through the lens of their destruction. We examined how the deliberate devastation of landscapes in the past has shaped communities beyond mere economic or functional losses. A key question was whether sudden devastation or forced dislocation leads to disempowerment and/or, conversely, serves as a catalyst for social change. We also examined the factors that influenced recovery and resilience, investigating the landscape-related strategies employed in the immediate aftermath of devastation to reconstruct social structures and re-establish shared or individual identities. Finally, we considered the societies that emerge in response to such upheavals, questioning the extent to which social cohesion and agency shape new landscapes. In this context, we asked whether the experience of destruction and displacement generated comparable coping mechanisms and social structures, and whether the obliteration of place is more or less transformative than the forced movement of people. We considered the question of the impacts of devastation events in spheres beyond the economic and functional, especially in terms of the construction, survival and replacement of mental landscapes and sense of place. Answers to that question introduced questions about societal resilience which affects recovery and response to devastation, and how (if at all, and where) social structures and shared or individual identities are reconstructed, in the more-or-less immediate response-phase of the disaster-cycle. This further involved investigating the extent to which deliberate devastation empowered or disempowered communities either to create structures that recreated the pre-existing social and political order, or that encouraged social change; this brought us to the '(Re)settlement' component of the project, centred on cultural and mental ways of coping with devastation and trauma, both immediately and in the much longer term - therefore in particular shifting the focus onto aftermath, response and resilience. The topic of devastation, and its consequences, effects and challenges for recovery, is very large, and it is all too evident from world events during the project and still today, that deliberate devastation is far from being only an historical phenomenon. With currently ongoing examples of devastation, academic detachment can become an increasingly elusive virtue. To provide a manageable scope, our project adopted three criteria (none of them concerned with period or date) to focus its reflections: intentionality (policy), rapidity (mainly immediate impacts) and large-scale (effects, or impact). Thus we focussed on deliberate human acts that have intentionally (or carelessly) caused extensive destruction (devastation) in a short space of time but with (often extremely) long-term consequences. |
| Exploitation Route | Following devastation, new worlds emerge, shaped by the movement of dislocated communities and the development of their new settlements. The landscapes of these post-tragic worlds are always subjective, mediated by memory, experience and expectation. Movement does not simply imply relocation; it entails a phenomenological engagement with space, in which individuals are never 'nowhere' but are always "within" a place, negotiating between a "here" and a "there". Thus, landscape is not merely a backdrop to human activity but the physical and existential context of being-in-the-world. This holds particular significance in post-tragedy worlds, where the experience of place is layered with loss, adaptation, and reconfiguration. Phenomenology offers a crucial framework for understanding the ambulatory nature of post-devastation landscapes, emphasizing movement, embodiment, and lived experience as key elements in reconstructing belonging. This perspective does not replace or obscure the socio-political and economic dimensions of dislocation and resettlement but complements them, offering a diversified approach to place-making. It also provides the critical tools to question the categories imposed by bureaucratic and academic discourses, foregrounding more nuanced and politically situated understandings of migration, exile, and displacement. Devastations are far from confined to the past. In Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, as in countless other conflict zones around the world, rapid, direct and deliberate devastation is unfolding - massive destruction of infrastructure, displacement, and the forced uprooting of entire populations. The international community often overlooks or fails to or is incapable of adequately addressing the suffering of these populations, who are not just victims of war, but also of systemic pressure, geopolitical power struggles, and historical narratives that deny them a living future. This tragedy forces us to reconsider the frameworks through which we understand and engage with the concepts of devastation, dislocation and (re)settlement. Their struggle for survival and dignity is an urgent call to reframe the discourse surrounding forced migration, displacement, and the right to rebuild and return. |
| Sectors | Education Environment Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | Pollentia project, Mallorca |
| Organisation | University of Barcelona |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Fieldwork seasons, workshops and seminars; student training |
| Collaborator Contribution | Fieldwork seasons, workshops and seminars; student training |
| Impact | n/a |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | University of Heidelberg |
| Organisation | Heidelberg University |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | AHRC/DFG funded project is a collaboration with archaeologists and historians at the University of Heidelberg. Our team is leading Work Package (WP) 1 (Landscape theory), WP3 (Anthology and synthesis of case-studies in devastation and dislocation), and WP4 (synthesis and dissemination). We also host two workshops linked to WPs 1 and 3. |
| Collaborator Contribution | University of Heidelberg leads WP2, which analyses devastation and dislocation linked to the project's major case-study, the Palatinate and the Palatines in the C17th and C18th |
| Impact | Multi-disciplinary collaboration including archaeology, history, heritage studies |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Public lecture - CAPAS, Heidelberg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | In the framework of the Devastation project, ST delivered a public lecture as part of the open lecture series of the Kate Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies in the University of Heidelberg, Germany. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Public seminar - Stelios Lekakis and Graham Fairclough |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This public seminar, entitled 'Understanding the End: Developing a Theoretical Frame for Devastation in the Landscape' was presented at Newcastle University in January 2024 to outline some key theoretical perspectives from the project. The presentation led to questions and discussion, to extension of the research network (and consequently the involvement of researchers who were not previously involved in the project in the final project workshop later in 2024) and ultimately to applications for further research funding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |