Summer school “Researching non-industrial farming: a multidisciplinary approach”

Researching non-industrial farming: a multidisciplinary approach”
27th August to 3rd September 2012 Santo Adriano, Asturias, Spain

Organizers: Leonor Peña-Chocarro (EEHAR-CSIC) & Marta Moreno-García (CCHS-CSIC)

Call for applicants and more information:
http://www.ih.csic.es/sites/default/files/Call%20for%20Applicants.pdf

Within the framework of the Consolider programme “Technologies for the conservation and valorisation of Cultural Heritage”, with support from the ERC programme AgriWestMed and the CCHS – EEHAR (CSIC), a Summer School is being offered for fifteen students studying in European countries. The successful applicants will be chosen by a committee formed by selected members from the organising institutions.

By the end of the Summer School, students will be able to:
a) Demonstrate an understanding of a social, human-centred approach in investigating non industrial farming
b) Integrate a range of disciplinary approaches (especially archaeobotany, archaeozoology, ethnography and archaeology)
c) Show a basic understanding of the main practical, archaeological and scientific techniques required for investigating non-industrial farming.



The participants will be asked to attend all the lectures and to take part in all the activities. All the following topics will be taught:
a) Researching methodology
b) Preindustrial agriculture

c) Livestock uses in the rural world
d) Cultural landscapes


As well as the formal lecture sessions, all the participants will take part in practical experiences such as the harvest and the crop processing sequence of hulled wheats, or the recording of the weed flora of the fields and villages. An excursion to the highlands will focus on seasonality in resource use related to transhumance, patterns of land use and building style, and the organisation of different work tasks in the transhumance system. Other activities, in coordination with local scholars and/or ethnographic institutions, include the study of agrarian tools, local storage facilities, and some individual enquiries and data producing.

A small internal colloquium will be organised during the Summer School. Every participant is asked to give a 15-minute presentation (preferably with PowerPoint) of his/her research work (Masters Thesis, doctoral project, finished dissertation, etc).

The language of the Summer School will be English.

Students must commit themselves to attend all lectures and practical work, and to stay for the full eight days. The price for the course, hosting and meals is 350€. The supporters will offer some grants to cover food and accommodation expenses, but not travel costs.