Informace o publikaci
Methodological Innovations in the History of Climate and Society Studies
| Autoři | |
|---|---|
| Rok publikování | 2025 |
| Druh | Kapitola v odborné knize |
| Fakulta / Pracoviště MU | |
| Citace | |
| Popis | The history of climate and society (HCS)—or “climate history”—is the study of past climate and weather and their place in human affairs. HCS combines methods and perspectives from the natural and social sciences and humanities. It also comprises diverse approaches to research and publication, ranging from narrative histories in single-authored monographs to technical articles in scientific journals written by large interdisciplinary teams. Its main areas of research include (1) reconstruction of past climatic changes, variations, and extreme weather; (2) societal impacts and sources of vulnerability and resilience; (3) societal adaptations and responses; and (4) past knowledge and perceptions of climate and weather. HCS has brought new insights into history and perspectives on present global warming. Researchers have identified important and complex roles of climate change, climate variability, and extreme weather in past events, while challenging simple climate determinism. Nevertheless, the rapid growth and diversity of the field have brought challenges. Major issues include how to combine information from heterogeneous physical and written sources; how to integrate quantitative and qualitative data and methods; how to analyze causation; how to realize consilience across disciplines in the humanities, social, and natural sciences; and how to work across disparate spatial and temporal scales. This article presents works that have defined and advanced methods in HCS, especially recent works that have addressed these difficult issues. In addition to methodological studies and reviews, it includes case studies showcasing new approaches and concepts. In practice, methods from many disciplines can contribute to HSC research. These include special techniques in archaeology (radiocarbon dating, isotopic analysis, paleopathology, paleogenomics) and paleoclimatology (dendrochronology, speleology, glaciology, palynology) as well as the humanities and social sciences. However, these methods have their own specialized literatures, which are beyond the scope of this article. This bibliography focuses on innovations in historical climatology, or the reconstruction of past climates and weather from written and early instrumental (e.g., thermometer) records, and past climate–society interactions, particularly impacts of climate variability and extreme weather and sources of societal vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience. This bibliography aims to be representative, yet it is far from comprehensive. Bibliographies, databases, and journals are provided to help researchers keep up with the thousands of relevant publications and new research in the field. |
| Související projekty: |