Summer School "Data in the Whirlwind of Disciplines"

(Reet Hiiemäe, Estonian Literary Museum, Folkloristics)

At the beginning of the workshop, I will introduce the HERA-CHANSE project “Mapping Environmental Health Crises – Public Understanding Through Myths and Science” as an example of multidisciplinary cooperation. In this project, geographers-cartographers, visual design specialists, and folklorists study the interplay of myths and science in society using cartographic representations.

The aim of the project is to demonstrate how both science and folklore/mythology use maps to interpret and overcome complex crises, and how the logic of mental maps found in folklore could be considered to improve contemporary crisis communication. We will examine what added value the emotional and sensory mapping typical of folklore can offer to scientific, fact-based information dissemination, what problems arise in multidisciplinary cooperation due to different academic traditions, or even the various ways of defining the term “map.” We will discuss what kinds of mental maps can be found in art, literature, historical narratives, genetic research, linguistics, medicine, media, etc., and where the boundaries of multidisciplinary research lie. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to contribute to relevant data creation by visualizing their own mental maps. We will also analyze what kind of research data is generated when creating or interpreting such individual mental maps and how to handle such data correctly in scientific work (e.g., data protection and ethical issues).

(Miina Norvik, UT Finnic Languages and Monika Karmin, UT Population Genetics)

The migrations, admixtures, and other processes of human groups affect the diversity patterns of both languages and genes. Although genes and languages are inherited independently, both are characterized by vertical transmission – passing from one generation to the next. However, in the case of languages, horizontal transfer also occurs, mainly as language contact between neighbouring human groups. Therefore, both linguistic and genetic data are used in the study of various processes in human (pre)history. Migrations are identified, comparisons are made as to whether people and cultural phenomena have moved together or separately, and possible language shifts and admixtures of populations are sought.

In this workshop, you will get a comparative overview of the analytical possibilities of linguistics and genetics for such studies, and we will highlight the challenges and limitations that must be considered. The workshop has two parts: first, we will look at datasets from the perspective of collection, aggregation, storage, and accessibility. We will discuss which datasets could and should be used in comparative studies and which methods are appropriate or not. We will share our recent experiences in compiling larger datasets (Grambank, UraTyp, and OCSEAN project). In the second part of the workshop, we will present examples of specific analyses, try applying them to our own data, and attempt to draw conclusions about the spread of genes and linguistic phenomena.

(Agnes Unt, UT Archaeology, Eliise Poolma, Leeli Amon and Anneli Poska, TalTech Paleoecology)

Through the collaboration of archaeology, which studies traces of human habitation, and paleoecology, which reconstructs past environmental conditions, it is possible to determine not only how people looked, what clothes they wore, and what items they used in their daily lives, but also what their environment was like (vegetation, climate, etc.) and how human activities influenced their surroundings.

Would you like to know why a single skeleton is invaluable to an archaeologist? Why do archaeologists examine the same find from a hundred different angles? The aim of the workshop on past people and environments is to give participants the opportunity to experience the role of a researcher studying past human habitation and, using a modern multidisciplinary toolkit, reconstruct various aspects related to people and their living environments. During the workshop, participants will get to examine human bones, determine past climatic conditions, learn to identify traces of human activity in vegetation, interpret archaeological finds, and much more.

Participation in the workshop is recommended as preparation for the archaeological and paleoecological field survey taking place on Sunday, June 15, led by Pikne Kama (University of Tartu Archaeology) and Siim Veski (TalTech Paleoecology).