New Books in Sociology

Chiara Calzana and Valentina Gamberi, "Haunting Ruins: Ethnographies of Ruination and Decay" (Berghahn Books, 2025)

Apr 8, 2025

Valentina Gamberi, an anthropologist specializing in material culture, and Chiara Calzana, a researcher in historical anthropology, delve into the evocative theme of ruins and decay. They discuss how ruins serve as dynamic spaces reflecting resilience, memory, and identity. The conversation highlights the interplay between personal narratives and broader historical contexts, emphasizing how these decaying structures become sites of collective memory and resistance. Their ethnographic studies unveil the powerful connections between heritage and social realities.

47:19

Episode guests

Chiara Calzana

Valentina Gamberi

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Ruins act as dynamic spaces where history, memory, and human experience converge, influencing identities and futures through emotional connections.

The concept of haunting reveals the agency of ruins in shaping community narratives and resistance against dominant societal portrayals.

Deep dives

The Dynamic Nature of Ruins

Ruins are more than mere remnants of the past; they serve as active spaces where history, memory, and human experience converge. The discussion highlights how ethnographic case studies reveal the interactions people have with these structures following disasters or urban transformations. For instance, individuals may develop emotional connections and engage in practices that reflect their histories, allowing ruins to influence present identities and futures. This perspective encourages a reevaluation of ruins as living entities that embody cultural significance and community resilience.

Intro

2min

Exploring the Haunting Significance of Ruins

15min

Understanding Heritage Through Ruins and Memory

2min

Ruins and Agency: Exploring Heritage in Taipei

13min

The Politics of Memory in Ruins: Narratives of Tragedy and Resistance

4min

Ruins and Narratives: Interwoven Histories

8min

In the contemporary world, ruins, rubble, and decaying material have become increasingly iconic landscapes. They can foster a more layered theory of time, change and memory. The seven ethnographic case studies in Haunting Ruins (Berghahn Books, 2025) trace human engagements with the temporal forces of ruins, which can trace the past and transform the present. Conjuring environmental humanities, the anthropology of history, memory studies, and archaeology, this fascinating new edited volume delves into the complex influence of the past on the present and the future and urges scholars to consider ruins as things to think with.

Valentina Gamberi is a MSCA-CZ Postdoctoral Fellow at the Palacký University Olomouc. She is an anthropologist focusing on material culture studies, museum and heritage studies, with a foundation in religious studies and material religion. She has conducted fieldwork in several European museums and, since 2017, in Taiwan. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0857-2233 Email: valentina.gamberi@upol.cz

Chiara Calzana is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Turin and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Milano-Bicocca. Her research interests lie in the fields of historical anthropology and memory studies. She conducted ethnographic fieldwork and historical research in the Vajont disaster area (Italian Alps), focusing on memorialization and monumentalization practices. Since 2023, she has been a member of the research team of the ERC Project ‘The World Behind a Word. An Anthropological Exploration of Fascist Practices and Meanings among European Youth (F-WORD)’. E-mail: chiara.calzana@unito.it

Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, medical anthropology, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here.

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