«Geostorie», anno XVIII, n. 3, 2010

EARTHQUAKE REPRESENTED
Earthquakes have captured man’s imagination since ancient times. First mentioned in the Bible, they were depicted in bass reliefs of Roman times, and described in the age of Christianity through manuscripts and frescoes of the Middle ages, up until the first seismic maps of 1627 by Matteo Greuter, based on the Gargano earthquake in Southern Italy. Huge cataclysms continued to be depicted through sketches and maps from the earthquake of Val di Noto in Sicily to the Calabrian earthquakes of 1783 up to the mid-19th century when modern studies of seismology began and images of natural catastrophes became widespread through the press.EL TERREMOTO REPRESENTADO
El terremoto ha sido siempre un fenómeno físico que tiene, por su gravedad, capturado la imaginación del hombre desde la antigüedad. Desde las primeras expresiones que se derivan de la Biblia, vemos cómo se representa en bajos relieves de la época romana, y luego continúa, en la era cristiana, a través de los manuscritos y los frescos de la Edad Media, hasta llegar a la primera carta del terremoto de 1627, obra de Matteo Greuter diseñado para el terremoto del Gargano. Los eventos cataclísmicos continuó siendo representado por un terremoto en el Val di Noto, hasta el de Calabria en 1783, con dibujos y mapas, hasta el siglo XIX cuando comenzó el estudio moderno de la sismología y las imágenes de los desastres naturales comenzaron la difusión a través de la prensa.

EARTH’S SHAPE IN ISLAMIC MIDDLE AGES. THE AL-KAZWINI MARVELS OF CREATURES AND STRANGE THINGS (CIRCA 1280)
In the Middle Ages some important demands of the islamic religion (i.e. the Qibla orientation and the Mecca’s pilgrimages) lead to a great consideration of the geographic knowledge. Consequently, the extended islamic world, much bigger than the dominion known to the christianity, valued particulalry the greek-ellenistic cultural tradition from which this knowledge derived. All these elements contributed to the diffusion, due to islamism, of the concept of the earth globe, as clearly showed in the work of al-Kazwini, one of the most copied geographic medieval books.LA FORMA DE LA TIERRA EN LA CULTURA ISLAMICA DE LA EDAD MEDIA. LAS MARAVILLAS DEL CREADO DE ZAKARIYYA AL-KAZWINI (CIRCA 1280)
En la Edad Media, las exigencias de la religión coránica (la orientación de la Qibla y las peregrinaciones a la Mecca) daban mucha importancia al saber geográfico, evaluándo así la tradición griego-elenística en el mundo islámico, mucho màs extenso en latitud de la ecúmene conocida por los cristianos. Todos estos elementos ayudaron a la difusión, en el mundo islámico, del concepto de globo terráqueo, como muestra claramente la obra de al-Kazwini, uno de los tratados mas copiados de geografía de la Edad Media.

AT THE DAWN OF «MANIFEST DESTINY»: TEXTBOOKS AND GEOPOLITICAL DISCOURSE IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
In his excellent book on «Manifest Destiny» and American expansionism, the historian Albert K. Weinberg (1935) analyses a large amount of newspapers’ articles and official speeches. However important, this kind of formal and practical geopolitics were not the only relevant sources in the making of the narrative. Together with journalists and politicians, novelists such as James Fenimore Cooper, and other popular culture authors like folk-writers and singers offered an important contribution in representing the westward expansion as the most natural fate for the young nation. But also cartography and geography textbooks were very helpful in that sense. Indeed, many geographies of the time already dealt with the frontier, providing a vision of «Americans moving westward as a chosen people of God settling the land of Canaan» (Hauptman, 1978). They also supplied a visual model to the Manifest Destiny territorial perspective, sometimes suggesting United States’ expansion before it had actually taken place. Moreover, the cartographic representation of America as a separated hemisphere, highlighted supposed differences between the United States and other parts of the world, which could offer a good optical support to the Monroe doctrine.À L’AUBE DU «DESTIN MANIFESTE»: LIVRES D’ÉCOLE ET DISCOURS GEOPOLITIQUES AUX ÉTATS-UNIS DANS LA PREMIÈRE MOITIE DU XIXEME SIÈCLE
Dans son excellent ouvrage sur le Destin Manifeste et l’expansionnisme américain, l’historien Albert K. Weinberg (1935) analyse de nombreux articles de quotidiens et discours officiels. Bien qu’elle soit remarquable, cette sorte de géopolitique formelle et pratique n’était pas la seule source importante dans la construction de cette narration. Aux côtés des journalistes et des politiciens, des romanciers, comme James Fenimore Cooper, et d’autres auteurs de la culture populaire comme les écrivains et les chanteurs, ont contribué de façon considérable à la représentation de l’expansion vers l’Ouest en tant qu’aboutissement naturel de la jeune nation. Dans ce sens, la cartographie et les livres scolaires de géographie ont eux-aussi apporté un grand soutien. En effet, beaucoup de livres de géographie de l’époque traitaient déjà de la frontière, en donnant une image des «Américains se déplaçant vers l’Ouest comme un peuple élu par Dieu afin de s’établir dans la Terre de Canaan» (Hauptman, 1978). Ces livres offraient aussi un modèle visuel à la perspective territoriale du Destin Manifeste, suggérant parfois l’expansion des États-Unis avant même qu’elle ne se réalise concrètement. D’ailleurs, la représentation cartographique de l’Amérique comme hémisphère séparé soulignait les prétendues différences entre les États-Unis et les autres parties du monde, ce qui pouvait offrir un bon soutien visuel à la doctrine de Monroe.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY, LANDSCAPE, LITERARY TEXT, PICTORIAL DOCUMENTATION. THE CASE OF AOSTA VALLEY
The study of the influence of culture on territory and on landscape is one of the new experiences of Italian geographers. The landascape is supposed to be observed with one’s entire cultural patrimony and with and attitude bringing back to the cultural milieu that was at the origin of that landscape, that conveys its emotions. This article points out how this was done in the second half of the nineteenth century by number of artists and writers belonging to the Piedmontese cultural milieu, who had been influenced by the re-discovery of the feudal times, castles and by the atmosphere then prevailing in the alpine valleys. It shows how they have observed and interpreted the landscape of Val d’Aosta through the medieval tradition as suggested by castles and have grasped the emotions coming from them. Moreover their activity – literary works, stage pieces, architectural designs and plans, restorations and even paintings – was in accordance with such an inspiration.GÉOGRAPHIE CULTURELLE, PAYSAGE, TEXTE LITTÉRAIRE ET DOCUMENTATION ICONOGRAPHIQUE. LE CAS DE LA VALLÉE D’AOSTE
Parmi les nouvelles expériences vers lesquelles s’adresse la géographie italienne il y a la recherche de l’influence de la culture sur le territoire et le paysage que l’on doit observer avec la participation de tout son patrimoine culturel, tout en ayant une attitude capable de le ramener dans le milieu culturel qui est à l’origine du paysage et duquel il transmet les émotions. Dans cet article on cherche à montrer comme cela a été fait dans la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle par des artistes et par des écrivains du milieu culturel piémontais, qui ont subi l’influence de la redécouverte de l’époque féodale, des châteaux et de l’atmosphère qu’ils créaient dans les vallées alpines. Ils ont observé et interprété le paysage valdôtain à travers la tradition médiévale que ses nombreux châteaux suggéraient, ont cueuilli les émotions qu’il transmettait, ont dirigé leur oeuvre – littéraire, théâtrale, architecturale, de restauration, et dans certains cas même pictural – suivant cette inspiration.

LANDSCAPE AND SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY. FRENCH AND ITALIAN VIEWPOINTS. SOME REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE FRENCH-ITALIAN CONFERENCE «SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY, TIME, LANDSCAPE». UNIVERSITY OF CAEN (FRANCE), 25, 26 AND 27 MARCH 2010
This text summarizes the main ideas discussed during the Italian-French Conference entitled “Landscape, Time, Social Geography” that took place at Caen University in March 2010 and gathered 25 speakers. It shows the interest as well as the limits in the use of the notion of landscape for social geography. This concept is viewed as a tool to express the time produced by the societies, social inequalities, individuals or groups power relationships, social exclusion, etc. The landscape can also be seen as an instrument for claiming social or political point of view, to express an artistic sensibility or to take advantage of economic resources. In order to be helpful, the polysemic concept of landscape must be precisely defined and the trap of “a” landscape (singular) as a material object must be avoided: “the” landscapes (plural) remain first of all productions of the societies, in all of their dimensions.PAESAGGI E GEOGRAFIA SOCIALE. PUNTI DI VISTA FRANCESI E ITALIANI. RIFLESSIONI A MARGINE DEL COLLOQUIO FRANCO-ITALIANO LA GÉOGRAPHIE SOCIALE, LE TEMPS, LE PAYSAGE (UNIVERSITÉ DE CAEN, FRANCIA, 25, 26 E 27 MARZO 2010)
Questo testo sintetizza le più rilevanti idee discusse nel corso del colloquio franco-italiano La géographie sociale, le temps, le paysage, tenuto all’Università di Caen nel marzo 2010, che ha messo a confronto 24 relazioni. Sono qui illustrati i motivi di interesse e insieme i limiti dell’uso della nozione di paesaggio in geografia sociale. Questo concetto forma una griglia di lettura che consente di mettere in luce i tempi delle società, le disuguaglianze sociali, gli attori, i rapporti di potere, la marginalità eccetera. Il paesaggio può anche essere uno strumento nel rivendicare una causa sociale o politica, nell’esprimere una sensibilità artistica o anche nel trarre vantaggio da risorse economiche. Per divenire operativa, la nozione di paesaggio, polisemica, deve essere definita con precisione, così da evitare la trappola «del» paesaggio in quanto oggetto materiale autonomo: «i» paesaggi rimangono prima di tutto dei prodotti delle società in tutte e loro dimensioni.

VAJONT. THE LANDSLIDE LIKE A PROCESS
The landslide of Toc mount, the 9th of October 1963, is one of the most terrible environmental tragedy in the European History: 2000 victims.
What we can see is that deterritorialization is not caused by the landslide, but it is a process born some time before: It starts in 1948 when the SADE (Società Adriatica di Elettricità) begins to expropriate farms in the Vajont valley. From this moment, until 1964, there are a lot of local changes: the agricultural society goes to become an industrial society.
When in 1964 the inhabitants return in their houses, the process of new territorialization set off: in fact some years later, in 1971, the construction of the new Erto’s district (Stortàn) starts.
Witnesses underline the current importance, as memory places, of Erto and Casso, the Vajont dam and Toc mount. Furthermore some of the local territorial actors put forward hypothesis to exploit the resources of the Vajont valley: something like naturalistic tourism and didactic stages.
The stakes are high: saving Erto (about 400 inhabitants) and Casso (about 20 inhabitants) by the oblivion.VAJONT. POR UNA LECTURA DEL DERRUMBAMIENTO COMO PROCESO
El derrumbamiento del monte Toc, el 9 de Octubre 1963, es una de las pejores tragedias del medioambiente de la Historia Europea: 2000 muertos.
Lo que podemos ver es que la deterritorializacion no es causada por el derrumbamiento, sino es un proceso que empieza algunos años antes: en 1948 cuando la SADE (Società Adriatica di Elettricità) expropria las primeras granjas de la valle del Vajont. Desde ahora, hasta el 1964, hay muchos cambios: la local sociedad agrícola se transforma en una sociedad industrial.
Cuando en 1964, los habitantes vuelven en sus casas, empieza el proceso de nueva territorializacion: de hecho, en 1971, se inicia la construcción del nuevo barrio de Erto (Stortàn).
Los testigos subrayan la importancia, como lugares de la memoria, de Erto y Casso, de la dique del Vajont y del monte Toc. Además algunos de los actores locales son portadores de propuestas de desarollo local: algo como el turismo naturalista y prácticas didácticas.
Lo que importa es de salvar Erto (aproximadamente 400 habitantes) y Casso (aproximadamente 20 habitantes) del olvido.