My main research interest concerns socio-environmental dynamics, as an interdisciplinary study residing in the intersection between environmental history, historical ecology and archaeology.
The transdisciplinary base has been a theme in all the projects in which I have been involved. The past in my view is an experimental lab in which many of the options that are presently available to us, whether it comes to environmental management, sustainability or policy issues have been tested and tried, either by natural processes or through human management or the combination of the two.
Projects
- Historical Ecology
- Long term Ecology of the Southern African savanna
- The Ecological Dynamics of Places in the Mälarvalley (Ekologiska rum)
- Archaeobotany and Contract Archaeology
- Teaching
Project descriptions
Historical ecology
My research focus on historical and contemporary interactions between physical environmental processes and the many social interactions that builds society by taking on a longue durée perspective, ie. studies of the long term and short term changes in the landscape from archaeological, historical and present day sources (see Integrated history and ecology theme). The interface between environmental management and cultural heritage management forms part of the analysis. My Ph D thesis (Ekblom 2004) presented an analysis of the socio-environmental history of a village, Chibuene, situated in coastal Mozambique and this work is now being expanded in coming papers.
I am currently involved in a project that looks on the long term socio-environmental history of Limpopo National Park, Mozambique. This project will be expanded into a cultural heritage project as local residents are now being relocated to outside the park (see Ekblom and Notelid 2010). The future project is orientated towards documenting and thus preserving histories and attachments to the landscape for the benefit of relocated communities . Another aim is to document the practical and embedded ecological knowledges of resident communities, knowledges that are of importance also for park managment and will otherwise be lost.
Apart from studies in Mozambique and southern Africa I am also currently involved in archaeological excavations and surveys in Old Uppsala (see Old Uppsala project), particularly focussing on the archaeobotanical material. This will be integrated into an historical ecology of the place of Old Uppsala and the planned project Ekologiska rum Mälardalen (The ecological dynamics of places in Mälardalen).
Long term landscape dynamics of the Southern Africa savanna
Continues and expands on the research and ideas formulated out in the Kruger environments a collaboration between Oxford University, University of Cape Town and Uppsala University (2005-2008) and now also with department of geography at Stockholm University. This project aims to provide long term data and theoretical models on the ecological dynamics of southern Africa, with the aim of informing an ecologically sound environmental management today. Palaeo-ecological methods and archaeological data are used in order to understand the ecological dynamics between people, climate, fire, herbivory and plant competition. Studies from Kruger National Park, Mapumalanga (Southafrica), Limpopo National Park and Vilanculos Region (Mozambique) will provide an overview over the mode of interaction between different “drivers” in the landscape; internal competition, rainfall, herbivory, fire and people and the critical points whereby these interactions leads to large scale changes in the landscape.
Ekologiska rum Mälardalen (The ecological dynamics of places in Mälardalen)
The project, which is still in its initial planning phase, aims to analyse and synthesise the current knowledge on paleoecology, human transformations of the landscape and ecological dynamics in the Mälarvalley. Archaeological excavations and palaeoecological work carried out i connection with contract archaeology for the construction of the E4 highway have contributed with a important source of information on these issues. A further analysis of this data is of importance for several reasons. Firstly, it will give an enhanced understanding of places and landscapes in which people have acted over time. The archaeological material in combination with the palaeoecological material also offers possibilities to better understand the long term ecological dynamics of these different landscapes – for instance when it comes to the management of meadows and grazing areas in the past and present – the historical understanding offers unique possibilities to study the connection between management practices and biological diversity. Gamla Uppsala will be incorporated as one casestudy in the project that is a cooperation between department of archaeology, geosciences and CBM (centre of biological diversity), Uppsala University. Project coordinators are Anneli Ekblom and Elisabeth Almgren.
Archaeobotany and contract archaeology
Alongside a focus on African savannas I have had a long standing interest in Swedish landscape dynamics, particularly the interplay between human settlement and the physical landscape. As an archaeobotanical consultant I have aimed to develop the archaeobotanical method to address archaeological research within the context of Swedish heritage management and contract archaeology. My own research interest in these circumstances has been the social organisation of the landscape as expressed in the remains of the physical landscape such as pollen and macrofossils.
For a full list of publications and macrofossil-analyses reports see CV
Teaching
I am teaching in all levels of the undergraduate education as well as higher education at department of Archaeology and Ancient History, this includes single lecture and organisation of courses in African and Comparative Archaeology and Landscape Archaeology. I am also teaching at Cemus (Centre for Environmental and Sustainable Studies, CSD Uppsala), particularly the course Global Environmental History. I teach on issues such as the domestication process, environmental archaeology and environmental history, landscape archaeology, historical ecology, landscape processes and archaeology-history and sustainable development. My ambition is to create an environment or social context were the students are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning process which means that I try work with interactive forms of teaching in a social learning environment, ie. case studies and problem based learning in student groups.
Courses:
- African and Comparative Archaeology (First year level, Archaeology, 2009-2011)
- Landscape Archaeology (Second year, Archaeology 2010-2011)
- African Environmental and Development History (Ph D course, 7.5 HP, Cemus research school 2004: http://www.cemus.uu.se/cefo/afrika/kursbeskrivning.pdf).
- Africa and the World (Ph D course, 7.5 HP, Cemus research school 2005: http://www.cemus.uu.se/cefo/africa05/Cemus_Africa_05.pdf)
- Member of planning group for Global Environmental History, examinor, teacher and supervisor of course projects (First year to masters level, 7.5 HP, 2009-2011)
Publications related to teaching:
- Ekblom, A. (2010) Miljöhistoria och dess frestelser. Cefo working papers 1. fulltext PDF
- Ekblom, A (in press) Vad har hållbar utveckling med arkeologi att göra?. I: Alkarp, M. (red.) Förhistoria och samtid: texter om arkeologi. Uppsala, OPIA.
- Ekblom, A. och Notelid, M (to be published Nov 2011). Miljöhistorier: personliga, globala, lokala historier om dåtid, nutid och framtid. Cefo series 3. (book based on student essays for the Cemus Global environmental history course).
