Klairi Gianniri is a researcher, museologist and cultural manager. She has a background in Cultural Communication and Technology (University of Aegean, Lesvos) and in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Freie Universität, Berlin). She holds an MA in Museum Studies at the Department of History and Archaeology (University of Athens), while her PhD in the same department focused on the Public Archaeology of mountain and remote communities. She has participated in numerous research projects and archaeological excavations, in the role of heritage outreach coordinator. The last couple of years she is leading the archaeological ethnography project in Anatoli region of East Crete. Another strand of her research has been focused on cultural management. Through her participation in START_Create Cultural Change program (Robert Bosch Stiftung), she managed to organize and implement an experiential cultural festival (ArchaeoLogic) in the region of Hierapetra, Crete. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tübingen (Germany).
TAKING CARE: ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE TIMES OF THE ANTHROPOCENE
In the recent times of polarization, referred to as Anthropocene and characterised by political and economic instability, social inequalities, climate change and health crisis, there is a general consensus across academia about the human-induced disturbance threatening every aspect of life on Earth. Although the transformative impact of the scientific discoveries and their subsequent technological acceleration on our planet, our societies and ourselves is now greatly evident, social and humanities scientists have only very recently entered this arena. Besides, it often goes unnoticed that it is not only the natural environment and the material heritage that is affected, but also the ideas, narratives, imaginations and discourses that different communities have built around that heritage and that particular local environment.
The aforementioned facts raise a set of questions about the role of archaeology in the times of the Anthropocene and the relations between communities and nature, communities and experts, experts and experts: In what ways is culture implanted in the natural environment? How the ideas, narratives and discourses of different communities are building around their natural environment? What can we learn about the community economies of the recent past, that were self-sufficient and respectful of the environment? How can we learn from each other? How can we take care of each other and our lifeworld?
These issues will be discussed in my presentation, based on two trans-disciplinary case studies in the insular environments of Lasithi (Crete) and Akamas (Cyprus), during which the communities and their lifeworlds were approached through the use of archaeological ethnography and in collaboration with archaeologists and artists.