Burny, J..

Historisch-ecologische reconstructie via mondelinge overlevering - aspecten van de methode.

Historisch geografisch tijdschrift 31 (2013) 190 - 196.

Een van de meest productieve methodes in historische ecologie bestaat erin oudere getuigen te ondervragen over het voormalig gebruik van natuurterreinen. Men ontvangt zo informatie over de toestand van land en water, vegetatie en fauna tijdens hun jeugd. In combinatie met literatuur- en kaartstudie levert deze benadering vaak een mooi beeld op van land en landschap in voorbije decennia. Daarenboven leiden gesprekken met oudere agrariërs, bosbeheerders, molenaars en andere buitenlui tot inzicht in de materiaal- en energietransporten tussen de grote eenheden van het voormalig landschap. Het levert inzicht in het etno-ecosysteem achter de landschappen van weleer. Gesprekken met deze oudere getuigen vergen een bijzondere houding van de onderzoeker. Ze zijn een krachtig instrument in de historische ecologie, maar er is een aantal beperkingen.

Oral history and historical ecology

Historical ecology can be carried out by way of different techniques. One of them consists in having a series of conversations with former users (farmers, millers, wood wardens, etc) of the area under consideration. When considering human activity in nature reserves or other areas that used to be agricultural land, one should attempt to understand the ethno-ecosystem behind the landscape. Research carried out by biologists or geographers meeting with older inhabitants of rural areas comes with huge potentials but also with some risks. Rural people tend to see the land and its products as a means of living while researchers might be tempted to forget about that. Older as well as younger people tend to convey ecological information on a spatial basis while forgetting the temporal aspects. In traditional society men and women had their own specialized fields of activity and this should be reflected in the composition of the pool of surveyed people. Women tend to keep a better memory into high age. Most of the information given by older people dates from their mid-teens to their mid-twenties. They only can convey part of the knowledge they and their parents needed to run their farms. Part of it can be rendered by words, but part of it never was and is now lost. An historical ecology obtained by means of a series of conversations is no pure rendering of the words and stories of the people involved. The researcher will limit the number and nature of the topics he or she is interested in. This should be done in order to be able to present the reader with a consistent and indeed historical-ecological story. All kinds of information of anthropological or sociological nature will be listened to by the researcher, in full respect of the people he or she meets. But this kind of information will not be included in the final text.