In my master thesis I deal with the issue of the identity of 19th century Russian society and the role of the Volga River in it. I focus on the characterization of Russian identity in the broadest sense, on the relationship of human society to nature, and on two case studies from the Upper Volga region. In the theory of Russian identity I consider four of its characteristic features - ambivalence, patriotism, spirituality and sentimentalism - to be crucial. The analysis of the relationship between human society and nature includes a section devoted to the reasons for human attachment to landscape, discusses the concept of national landscapes, and presents the dominant idea of the Russian landscape at the end of the 19th century. The last section is devoted to research on the role of the Volga River in the self-identification of the inhabitants of the Upper Volga region. In a study of the worship of the source of the Volga and in research on folklore, I note the attitude of various influences towards this river and, on this basis, define the place of the Volga River in the life of different social classes. The conclusion of my study is that the role of the Volga River in the life of the Upper Volga inhabitants was in many ways the same as its role in the national social discourse, but quite out of...

[pt] O imbricamento entre cultura e natureza na trajetória humana é objeto da história ambiental: campo historiográfico, inerentemente interdisciplinar, que articula práticas adotadas nas ciências humanas e ciências naturais. À luz dos conceitos de fronteira, paisagem e território, e tendo como ponto observacional o maciço da Tijuca, investiga-se o processo de destruição e reconstrução de suas florestas, no decorrer do século XIX. A intensidade na exploração dos recursos energéticos e madeireiro agravou o abastecimento hídrico da cidade do Rio de Janeiro e resultou na premente necessidade de recomposição florestal, especialmente nas áreas de nascentes. Objetiva-se, à luz do repertório de espécies empregadas, e considerando o desenvolvimento do projeto, avaliar a ocorrência de um padrão na seleção de espécies a serem utilizadas nos plantios denotando uma intencionalidade distinta à unicamente solucionar a crise de abastecimento hídrico. Além disso, buscou-se identificar a ocorrência de testemunhos vivos das mudas e arvoretas utilizadas nos plantios pretéritos que permitisse delimitar a área original do projeto. Para isso, foram utilizadas diferentes metodologias: desde a busca e o exame de documentos históricos, depositados em arquivos, bibliotecas e museus, até o emprego de metodologia para a amostragem da vegetação, além de processos padrões aos estudos de anatomia e sistemática botânica. O estudo das coleções de herbários, o emprego de técnicas cartográficas e o uso de dados climatológicos foram fundamentais à execução do trabalho. A circunscrição ora proposta como área do projeto indica que a floresta plantada teria cerca 330 ha, sugerindo a priorização na recomposição por microbacias, a qual totalizou, nos 33 anos analisados, cerca 110 mil árvores plantadas com sucesso em um repertório de pelo menos 107 espécies, no qual as nativas foram preferencialmente empregadas. O uso madeireiro, em especial para o segmento naval foi priorizado, mas também foram atendidos outros propósitos: como o de comércio e construção. O modelo empregado no projeto, associado aos critérios de seleção das áreas para plantio e das espécies, caracterizam um planejamento estratégico que previa, valendo-se de uma crise hídrica urgente, recuperar as nascentes e gerar riqueza no médio e longo prazo, diversificando o uso do solo e inaugurando um ciclo de exploração silvicultural no país. / [en] The imbrications between culture and nature in the human trajectory are the object of environmental history: a historiographic field, inherently interdisciplinary, that articulates practices adopted in the human and natural sciences. In the light of the concepts of frontier, landscape and territory, and having the Tijuca massif as an observational point, we investigated the processes of destruction and reconstruction of its forests along the 19th century. The intensity in the exploitation of energy resources and wood worsened the water supply of the city of Rio de Janeiro and resulted in an urgent need for forest restoration, especially in the spring areas. In light of the repertoire of species used and considering the project s development, the objective is to evaluate the occurrence of a pattern in the selection of species to be used in plantations, denoting a distinct intention to solely solve the water supply crisis. In addition, we sought to identify the occurrence of living evidence of seedlings and small trees used in past plantations that would allow delimiting the original area of the project. To do so, different methodologies were used, ranging from the search and examination of historical documents in archives, libraries and museums, to the use of methods for sampling the vegetation, in addition to standard processes for anatomy and systematic botanical studies. The study of herbarium collections, the use of cartographic techniques and of climatological data were crucial to this work. The circumscription proposed as the project area indicates that the planted forest would have about 330 ha, suggesting prioritization in the restoration by micro-watersheds, which totaled, in the 33 years analyzed, about 110,000 successfully planted trees from a repertoire of at least 107 species, in which native species were chosen over exotic ones. The use of timber, especially for the naval segment, was prioritized, but other purposes were also served: trade and construction. The model used in the project, associated with the criteria for selecting the areas for planting and the species, characterize strategic planning that called for –while taking advantage of an urgent water crisis – a recovery of the springs and generation of wealth in the medium and long term, diversifying soil use and inaugurating a cycle of silvicultural exploration in the country.

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[pt] A floresta que recobre o Maciço da Pedra Branca, localizado no município do Rio de Janeiro, é formada em sua maior parte por florestas secundárias de diferentes idades, que foram intensamente manejadas por um grupo social específico no passado. Foram utilizadas para a produção de carvão nos séculos XIX/XX e, após o abandono desta atividade, se regeneraram, restando, atualmente, apenas poucas evidências deste uso pretérito. No interior da floresta deste maciço, que possui aproximadamente 12.500 hectares, já foram inventariados mais de 1.000 vestígios de antigas carvoarias. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a composição florística e a estrutura do estrato arbustivo e arbóreo de áreas que foram utilizadas para a produção de carvão. Foi investigado se este tipo de manejo interferiu na forma que a floresta se regenerou, avaliando-se os rumos da sucessão eco-lógica. Além disso, foram verificados os potenciais usos e buscou-se identificar as marcas dos antigos carvoeiros na atual floresta. Foram selecionadas e inventaria-das três áreas que apresentam idades aproximadas, mesma orientação de encosta e declividade semelhantes. Em cada uma delas foram realizadas cinco parcelas em transecção (60 x 5 m) formando um semicírculo no sentido a montante da encosta, resultando em uma área amostral de 1.500 m2 (no total 4.500 m2). Apesar das três áreas terem sofrido um mesmo último uso, a floresta, atualmente, apresenta resultantes florísticas e estruturais bastante distintas entre si, mas que revela, em varia-dos aspectos, a ação pretérita deste grupo social. / [en] The forest that covers the Pedra Branca massif, located in Rio de Janeiro, is consisted mostly by secondary forests of different ages who were intensively managed by a specific social group in the past. This is due to the partial logging that occurred by making charcoal, especially among nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and after the abandonment of this activity, it regenerated, leaving, currently, just a few evidences of this past use. In the forest of this massif, which has approximately 12,500 hectares, have been inventoried over 1,000 traces of old charcoal kilns. The objectives of this study were investigate how the ecological succession occurred in the Pedra Branca massif after the charcoal activity and verify the potencial uses of the species that constitute the current forest. In this research, were explored three areas of ancient charcoal-makers, currently covered by secondary forests. These areas have similar ages, same orientation and similar slope steepness. In each of these areas were performed five transects forming a semi-circle oriented to the highest part of the slope, as it is believed that the charcoal makers used to fell trees downhill. The dimensions of each axis being 60 x 5 meters and the total inventoried was 0,45 hectare. Although the three areas have suffered the same last use, forest currently present with floristic and structural resulting quite distinct from each other, but that shows in many respects the preterit action of charcoal-makers in this massif.

This licentiate thesis describes and analyses the modern history of the socio-technical systems for urban water supply and sanitation in East Africa with focus on Uganda and Kenya. The key objective of the thesis is to evaluate to what extent the historic processes frame and influence the water and sanitation services sectors in these countries today. The theoretical approach combines the Large Technical Systems approach from the discipline of History of Technology with New Institutional Economics. Throughout, urban water and sanitation service systems are regarded as socio-technical systems, where institutions, organisation and technology all interact. The thesis consists of three separate articles and a synthesis in the form of a framework narrative. The first article provides a discussion of the theoretical framework with special focus on the application of Public Goods theory to urban water and sanitation. The second article describes the establishment of the large-scale systems for water supply and sanitation in Kampala, Uganda in the period 1920-1950. The third article focuses on the politics of urban water supply in Kenya with emphasis on the period 1900-1990. The main findings in this thesis are that the socio-technical systems for urban water and sanitation evolve over long periods of time and are associated with inertia that makes these systems change slowly. The systems were established in the colonial period to mainly respond to the needs and preferences of a wealthy minority and a technological paradigm evolved based on capital-intensive and large-scale technology. Attempts to expand services to all citizens in the post-colonial period under this paradigm were not sustainable due to changes in the social, political and economic environment while incentives for technological change were largely absent. History thus frames decisions in the public sphere even today, through technological and institutional inertia. Knowing the history of these socio-technical systems is therefore important, in order to understand key sector constraints, and for developing more sustainable service provision. / <p>QC 20101122</p>

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<p>This dissertation traces both professional and public concerns about the Earth’s environmental limits from the late 1960s to 1990s, at the intersection of reproductive rights and aerospace technology. It considers two rather ‘radical’ and opposing grassroots activist approaches for how to best address the environmental and population crises that gained public traction at the turn of the 1970s: zero population growth and space settlement. The current scholarship has examined the ‘era of limits,’ and modern environmentalism and population control activism from both U.S. and global perspectives, considering how policy, science, gender, politics, and the media shape public understandings and both local and state responses. Zero growth proponents, through both coercive and voluntary campaigns, sought to demonstrate and halt the damage that unchecked economic and population growth was causing the planet. Yet these histories rarely consider the rise of new spaceflight technologies and thought during the same period, which promised a pro-growth, technology-infused solution to the limits to growth, one that would not impose restrictions on consumptive, environmental, or reproductive behavior. Responding to recent scholarly efforts to better contextualize aerospace technology into social and cultural histories of the post-Apollo era, this dissertation focuses on the grassroots activism of two organizations: Zero Population Growth (ZPG), which advocated for zero growth, and the L-5 Society (including a student-run affiliate chapter called the Maryland Alliance for Space Colonization), which promoted space settlement and the manufacturing of clean, pollution-free energy and mining resources for Earth. In this dissertation, I argue that in order to fully understand the implications of ‘Earthly limits’ on American society, we need to look at the role of grassroots activists. How did their concerns form, persist, and change over the course of the late twentieth century? Using primary and archival material and oral histories of the members, it analyzes their dynamics, goals, and stakes in ideas about limits to growth and a finite Earth. Centering on the diverse personal stories and experiences of former activists reveals their unique motivations for joining their respective groups, why they advocated for such different approaches to the limits to growth, and how their drive for a better future continued long after popular enthusiasm for zero growth and space settlement waned by the late 1970s.</p>

[pt] A dicotomia na relação sociedade-natureza se projeta consideravelmente sobre as florestas tropicais, que muitas vezes são consideradas uma natureza estática, sem história e com poucos habitantes, onde sua complexidade estrutural e funcional se deu apenas por processos naturais. O presente trabalho investigou: i. a transformação da paisagem de Grumari, bairro localizado no extremo sudoeste do Maciço da Pedra Branca (RJ), que possui, atualmente, a maior área de cobertura vegetal do município e ii. os legados socioecológicos encontrados na floresta, com o intuito de desvendar quais e como as interações humanas com meio físicobiológico contribuíram para a construção da atual paisagem florestal. Para isso foram usadas metodologias oriundas da Geografia, História e Ecologia que perpassaram a investigação de documentos históricos com fontes primárias e secundárias extraídos de Arquivos Históricos, complementados pela identificação e sistematização de vestígios materiais encontrados em trabalhos de campo, segundo a metodologia da leitura da paisagem. Por fim, utilizou-se a fitossociologia para análise do componente arbóreo ao redor dos vestígios encontrados, no sentido de compreender as resultantes ecológicas do encontro entre a dinâmica social e natural. Foram inventariadas oito unidades amostrais da vegetação arbórea perfazendo 0,32 ha. Foi encontrado um total de 90 espécies, sendo Guarea guidonia, Piptadenia gonoacantha, Sparattosperma leucanthum, Gallesia integrifolia e Joannesia princeps as mais conspícuas. A encosta florestal de Grumari foi habitada por populações humanas, possivelmente desde os povos sambaquieiros; passando por indígenas Tupinambás; colonizadores portugueses; instituições religiosas de poder; latifundiários e pequenos lavradores posseiros - que até hoje ocupam o território – e, mais atualmente, o Poder Público, que exerce a governança ambiental através das Unidades de Conservação. Alguns efeitos da modificação dos ecossistemas para a sobrevivência e atividades econômicas referentes a distintos momentos históricos estão impressos na paisagem através de vestígios como: depósitos malacológicos, resquícios de carvoarias, ruínas e antigos caminhos, geralmente associados à presença de espécies exóticas, e espécies nativas que apresentam padrão de dominância na comunidade vegetal. A associação desses elementos encontrados na paisagem conta histórias para além da história escrita. Depois de mais de 200 anos de intenso uso do solo para agricultura, fornecimento de energia e água e habitações humanas, a vegetação avançou sobre áreas de antigas roças, carvoarias e pastos abandonados. A floresta seguiu sucessões ecológicas únicas, que expressam a história e a cultura em sua composição e estrutura. A complementaridade de fontes – escritas, materiais, biológicas e fotográficas – contribuíram para a compreensão da complexidade da paisagem e dos fatores histórico-ambientais que a levaram à configuração atual. Além disso, permitiu dar luz a grupos sociais sistematicamente invisibilizados que foram importantes agentes de transformação do espaço com suas práticas culturais. A reunião dessas informações e a sistematização de vestígios materiais revelam as complexidades e dão concretude à discussão sobre florestas como paisagens culturais. / [en] The dichotomy in the society-nature relationship is projected considerably over tropical forests, which are often considered to be a static nature, with no history and with few inhabitants, and whose structural and functional complexity occurred only through natural processes. The present work investigated: i. the transformation of the landscape of Grumari, a neighborhood located in the southwestern corner of Maciço da Pedra Branca (RJ), which currently has the largest vegetation area in the municipality and ii. the socioecological legacies found in the forest, in order to discover which and how human interactions with physical-biological environment contributed to the construction of the current forest landscape. For this, methodologies from Geography, History and Ecology were used, which permeated the investigation of historical documents with primary and secondary sources extracted from Historical Archives, complemented by the identification and systematization of material traces found in fieldwork, according to the landscape reading methodology. Finally, phytosociology was used to analyze the tree component around the traces found, in order to understand the ecological results of the encounter between social and natural dynamics. Eight sampling units of tree vegetation totaling 0.32 ha were inventoried. A total of 90 species were found, with Guarea guidonia, Piptadenia gonoacantha, Sparattosperma leucanthum, Gallesia integrifolia and Joannesia princeps being the most conspicuous. The forested slope of Grumari was inhabited by human populations, possibly from the sambaquieiros peoples; passing by indigenous Tupinambás; Portuguese colonizers; religious institutions of power; landowners and small-scale tenant farmers - who still occupy the territory today - and, more recently, the Public Power, which exercises environmental governance through Conservation Units. Some effects of the modification of ecosystems for survival and economic activities referring to different historical moments are imprinted on the landscape through traces such as: malacological deposits, remnants of charcoal production, ruins and ancient paths, usually associated with the presence of exotic species, and native species that present a dominance pattern in the plant community. The association of these elements found in the landscape tells stories beyond written history. After more than 200 years of intense use of the soil for agriculture, energy and water supply and human habitation, the vegetation has advanced over areas of old fields, charcoal fields and abandoned pastures. The forest followed unique ecological successions, which express history and culture in their composition and structure. The complementarity of sources - written, material, biological and photographic - contributed to the understanding of the landscape complexity and the historical-environmental factors that led to its current configuration. In addition, it allowed to give light to systematically invisible social groups that were important agents of transformation of the space with their cultural practices. The gathering of this information and the systematization of material traces reveal the complexities and give substance to the discussion about forests as cultural landscapes.

[pt] O litoral sul fluminense vem passando por muitas mudanças desde a abertura da rodovia Rio-Santos na década de 1970, o que provocou diversos conflitos socioambientais em decorrência de um intenso processo de especulação imobiliária. Em paralelo, a criação de diversas unidades de conservação restringiu práticas das comunidades tradicionais locais e reorganizaram de diversas formas seus territórios. No ano de 2014, a crise hídrica do sudeste brasileiro afetou também comunidades rurais em Paraty, entre elas, a comunidade do Quilombo Campinho da Independência localizada na bacia do rio Carapitanga. Buscou-se compreender se a crise hídrica local se deu em decorrência unicamente de uma variabilidade climática ou se foi potencializada por mudanças socioambientais recentes. Sendo assim, foram analisados os processos sociais históricos que conduziram às mudanças de uso do solo na região, tendo como foco as comunidades quilombolas e suas formas de resistência e adaptação aos diferentes contextos históricos. Em seguida, foram analisadas variáveis ambientais locais como a distribuição histórica da precipitação na bacia do Carapitanga e as resultantes geo-hidroecológicas do manejo tradicional. Para tal, foram selecionadas três áreas no Quilombo do Campinho que foram utilizadas em tempos distintos: florestas de 30 e 50 anos regeneradas após abandono de roças e uma área de agrofloresta, recentemente implementada (10 anos). As variáveis monitoradas, coletadas e analisadas ao longo da pesquisa foram: precipitação, interceptação florestal, umidade do solo, capacidade de retenção hídrica da serrapilheira, propriedades físicas e condutividade hidráulica saturada (Ksat) do solo, levantamento fitossociológico das áreas regeneradas após o uso e a classificação das espécies arbóreas em grupos ecológicos. Os resultados indicam que o manejo destas comunidades produz na paisagem um mosaico vegetacional em diferentes estágios sucessionais com diferentes funções geo-hidroecológicas. Dentre essas funções, as três áreas se destacaram diferentemente. De forma geral, a agrofloresta apresentou maiores valores de Ksat e umidade do solo, consistindo numa área de maior recarga e armazenamento de água, além das espécies cultivadas servirem de alimento para a fauna, fortalecendo interações ecológicas. A floresta de 30 anos apresentou a maior diversidade de espécies arbóreas e a floresta de 50 anos a maior diversidade estrutural dos indivíduos arbóreos e, consequentemente, a maior interceptação da precipitação. Ainda que a luta e a resistência das comunidades tradicionais tenham produzido avanços, políticas e dinâmicas mais recentes na região aliadas às tendências pluviométricas para o sudeste brasileiro acendem alertas, uma vez mais, para as consequências socioambientais do modelo político e econômico dominante. / [en] The southern coast of Rio de Janeiro has undergone many changes since the opening of the Rio-Santos highway in the 1970s. This fact has caused several socio-environmental conflicts as a result of an intense process of real estate speculation and several conservation units were created, which controlled traditional community practices and so, reorganized their territories in different ways. In 2014, the water crisis in southeastern Brazil also affected rural communities in Paraty, including the Quilombo Campinho da Independência community located in the Carapitanga river basin. We sought to understand if the local water crisis occurred solely as a result of climate variability or if it was enhanced by recent socio-environmental changes. Thus, the historical social processes that led to changes in land use in the region were analyzed, focusing on quilombola communities and their forms of resistance and adaptation to different historical contexts. Then, local environmental variables were analyzed, such as the historical distribution of precipitation in the Carapitanga basin and the geo-hydroecological results of traditional management. To this end, three areas were selected in Quilombo do Campinho that were used at different times: 30- and 50-year-old forests regenerated after the abandonment of swiddens and an agroforestry area, recently implemented (10 years). The variables monitored, collected and analyzed throughout the research were: precipitation, forest interception, soil moisture, litter water retention capacity, physical properties and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) of the soil, phytosociological survey of regenerated areas after use and the classification of tree species into ecological groups. The results indicate that the management of these communities produces a vegetation mosaic in the landscape at different successional stages with different geo-hydroecological functions. Among these functions, the three areas stood out differently. In general, the agroforestry showed higher values of Ksat and soil moisture, consisting of an area of greater water recharge and storage, in addition to the cultivated species serving as food for the fauna, strengthening ecological interactions. The 30-year-old forest had the greatest diversity of tree species and the 50-year-old forest the greatest structural diversity of individual trees and, consequently, the greatest precipitation interception. Although the struggle and resistance of traditional communities have produced advances, more recent policies and dynamics in the region, combined with rainfall trends for the Brazilian Southeast, raise alerts, once again, for the socio-environmental consequences of the dominant political and economic model.