Franco Lai

In questo articolo propongo una lettura degli studi sui paesaggi sonori lungo tre piani: la rilevanza del paesaggio sonoro in ambito storico, le trasformazioni dei paesaggi sonori nel Novecento, il paesaggio sonoro delle sub-culture musicali professionali. A partire dagli studi di R.M. Schafer (1977) e S. Feld (2009) mostro come gli studi sui paesaggi sonori siano stati portati avanti per comprendere la rilevanza istituzionale e politica del suono. Inoltre, cerco di mostrare le trasformazioni del paesaggio sonoro in relazione ai più vasti cambiamenti sociali, economici e tecnologici del Novecento. Infine, mostro come la città può rappresentare un contesto favorevole alla produzione e alla circolazione di forme culturali nuove e emblematiche dell'ambiente sonoro di una città.

Over the past few years, the notion of Anthropocene has attracted the attention of historians, social scientists and in particular manner of anthropologists. In the field of Earth and climate sciences the discussion was very strong. In the social sciences, the notion of Anthropocene has concentrated on the technical, political and economic system that produced the new geological era. So, the attention of scholars has focused on the historical origins of Anthropocene and the global impact of industrial society. In this essay I discuss these issues and I argue that the concept of Anthropocene represents a challenge for anthropological research because of the necessity to cross scientific research with social sciences.

In this short article I try to support the idea that in Alexander von Humboldt’s works there are some interesting insights into the effects of human activities in ecosystems and about the interrelationships between the various elements of the ecosphere. Such insights are the result of his fieldwork during the exploration in various South American regions between 1799 and 1804.

italianoLo studio dei soundscapes, dei paesaggio sonori, comporta una nuova attenzione per la dimensione sonora della vita sociale. Le transformazioni sociali. le trasformazioni sociale e ambientali hanno prodotto un nuovo paesaggio sonoro e nuove forme di percezione del rapporto tra spazio e suono, mentre le nuove forme di esecuzione della musical dal vivo spazi aperti sono state adottate dai festival come valorizzazione turistica del territorio EnglishSoundscapes studies led to new attention about sound dimension of social life. Social and ecological changes caused new soundscapes and new perception of relation between space and and sound. the transformation of live performance in open spaces has been adopted by festival as a form of tourism development

In this essay, I offer the reconstruction of a magic rite intended to protect crops and livestock against wildlife. The context of my interpretation is related to the process of social and environmental change experienced in contemporary Sardinia, with particular reference to the representation of nature in peasant society.

In this article I propose a reading of soundscape studies along three dimensions: the relevance of the soundscape in the historical context, the transformations of soundscapes in the twentieth century, the soundscape of sub-professional musical cultures. Beginning from R.M. Schafer’s (1977) and S. Feld’s (2009) researches, I show that studies concerning soundscapes have revealed institutional and political relevance of sound. In addition, I show how soundscape has changed in relation to broader social, economic and technological developments during the twentieth century. At last, I show how the city represents a favourable environment for production and circulation of new cultural forms, that become emblematic of cities sound.

During the 20th century two main interventions have been intended for coastal wetlands in Sardinia. Throughout the first part of the century Sardinian wetlands have been targeted for drainage to obtain productive agricultural land. At the end of the forties, wetlands were drained in order to eradicate malaria. From the second half of the 20th century ponds become significant also for nature conservation and tourism development (see the case of Donana in Spain and the Camargue in France). In Sardinia wetlands are important as avifauna habitats (see the Ramsar Convention), tourism attractions and environmental conservation sites. In this paper we will present the process of tourist promotion of wetlands, the opportunities and the risks of this process with some empirical cases.

The re-use and the domestication of nature in abandoned areas is becoming a theme of increasing relevance in European (and Italian) public debate. This article uses Gilles Clément's concept of 'third landscape' to understand the transformation of an urban salt works into a public park. Salt production in Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy) was suspended in 1984 because of pollution from urban sewage. Some years after abandonment, the state salt works eventually became a public park. People frequented the area before its establishment and eventually the salt works became a place for running, canoeing, walking, biking, birdwatching and other outdoor activities. The article shows how this abandoned area became a park and heritage site, though stakeholder support. It analyzes the local discourse that continues to represent and protect the area as 'green,' where nature can be enjoyed, despite its industrial heritage.Keywords: salt works, wetlands, coastal parks, European coast...

... Nel caso dei Nuer del Sudan, e proprio il bisogno di terra a spingere il gruppo sociale oltre il proprio territorio, attraverso una ... pietre chiamati <<mullones> in sardo e <<mojones> in spagnolo) e alla memoria orale dei confini si imporra la cartografia (Zedda-Maccio 1984; Grendi ...

... culturale preromano resta piui o meno discu-tibile, fuori discussione sembra invece, ormai, I'attri-buzione a un sostrato linguistico prelatino di ... orientale dell'isola, proprio mentre scrivo questo lavoro, nella prima settimana del dicembre 2004 5. Le parole di Angelo Aru, docente ...

In this article I propose a reading of soundscape studies along three dimensions: the relevance of the soundscape in the historical context, the transformations of soundscapes in the twentieth century, the soundscape of sub-professional musical cultures. Beginning from R.M. Schafer's (1977) and S. Feld's (2009) researches, I show that studies concerning soundscapes have revealed institutional and political relevance of sound. In addition, I show how soundscape has changed in relation to broader social, economic and technological developments during the twentieth century. At last, I show how the city represents a favourable environment for production and circulation of new cultural forms, that become emblematic of cities sound.