Call for Papers

MARTOR 33/2028

Taming the W(e)at(h)er. Heritage, Local Cultures, and Climate Change

The Museum of the Romanian Peasant is seeking contributions for its annual journal MARTOR 33/2028, on the topic: Taming the W(e)at(h)er. Heritage, Local Cultures, and Climate Change. MARTOR is a peer-reviewed academic journal, established in 1996, indexed by EBSCO, Index Copernicus, CEEOL, DOAJ, AIO, ERIHPLUS, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, AskBisht, with a focus on cultural and visual anthropology, ethnology and museology.

Abstract (300 words) submission deadline: 1 February 2027.

Publication date: 15 November 2028.

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Devastating fires, catastrophic storms and floods, soil erosion and prolonged drought have prompted institutions (see UNESCO 2017; Orlove et al. 2022; Pasikowska-Schnass 2024), as well as researchers, to give more consideration to the issues raised by climate change.

A consequence of human activity (see the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted on 9 May 1992; the UN 2030 Agenda, adopted in 2015), climate change is one of the most dramatic challenges facing humanity today. It is documented primarily by specialists in the natural sciences, but since the end of the 20th century, an increasing number of researchers in the social sciences and humanities have been looking into this topic, concerned with how these changes are reflected and perceived in local cultures, albeit with clear global implications (v. Hylland Eriksen 2023: „Anthropology teaches us that climate change has to be related to global inequality and local diversity, and must be understood as a multi-scalar phenomenon embedded in local life, but with global ramifications”).

Recent studies have examined how cultural heritage is affected by global warming (see McDermott and Craith 2024; McDermott and Craith 2025). Another example is the debate, which has been taking place in the social sciences for more than two decades now, concerning climate refugees – people forced to leave the areas where they have lived, with all that such a move entails.

In fact, as early as 2011, Susan A. Crate proposed a field of study known as “climate ethnography.” Research in this field fosters greater reflection, as Susan A. Crate states, enabling an understanding of the cultural and cognitive context of community members as they address the issue of global warming, and the strategies they adopt to mitigate the negative environmental impacts they are currently facing.

But climate change does not affect heritage only through damage and loss. In some cases, drought, coastal erosion, retreating glaciers, or changing water levels may also expose previously hidden archaeological sites, artefacts, or historical landscapes, creating a paradoxical situation in which processes of environmental degradation simultaneously generate new forms of heritage visibility and archaeological knowledge.

Our attention is focused on the impact that climate change is having on cultural (both tangible and intangible) and biocultural/biological cultural heritage, particularly as there has recently been a great deal of news reports about how historic monuments are being affected by adverse weather conditions. Researchers and communities are working together to find solutions to mitigate the negative effects of these changes, and the involvement of decision-makers in this process is also necessary, because only by engaging the whole of society can the appropriate responses be identified to ensure the sustainability of cultural (immovable, tangible, intangible) or biocultural/biological cultural heritage under these conditions (see also Pasikowska-Schnass 2024). At the same time, while it poses serious threats to heritage, climate change can also lead to unexpected discoveries or draw attention to previously invisible, hidden, or forgotten elements of the past.

The journal Martor, in line with its proposed theme for 2028, invites its contributors to submit case studies or theoretical articles that address one or more of the following areas, though not limited to them:

Social science perspectives on the issue of environmental change.
How is heritage (sites, practices) affected / or exposed by climate change at local and/or regional level.
What are the possible solutions identified by researchers or communities to the problems raised by global warming.
Strategies adopted by rural communities in face of environmental challenges today (or in the past). How can mechanisms for adapting to such challenges (e.g drought adaptation) be used to mitigate negative effects of climate change?
Debate on environmental policies relating to the dynamics of contemporary climate change (e.g. the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)).
How do infrastructures (Knox and Gambino 2023) at local and/or regional level (including the Green Deal and the EU ETS, viewed as infrastructures) relate to global ones?
Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary projects (natural sciences and social sciences and humanities) that demonstrate how cultural, biocultural and natural heritage is affected by climate change and seek solutions.
Comparative perspectives (historical and contemporary) on climate change/weather changes.
Climate and weather in a historical ecological perspective.

Guest editors:

Anamaria IUGA, National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Romania & Maramureș County Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art, Romania.

Alexandru IORGA, “Constantin Brăiloiu” Ethnography and Folklore Institute & University of Bucharest (Sociology Department), Romania.

Corina IOSIF, National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Romania.

Anna WESTIN, The Swedish biodiversity centre at the Swedish university of agricultural sciences, Sweden.

Tommy LENNARTSSON, The Swedish biodiversity centre at the Swedish university of agricultural sciences, Sweden.

Bogdan IANCU, National Museum of the Romanian Peasant & National School of Political and Administrative Sciences, Romania.

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Our proposal also builds on the Museum’s participation in the Grasslands for Biodiversity (G4B) project: facilitating the protection of highly biodiverse grasslands and the associated management practices in the Alps and the Carpathians (funded through the BIODIVERSA+ programme, The European Biodiversity Partnership, via the BiodivProject 2021–2022 call for proposals, co-funded by the European Commission, GA No. 101052342, and the following organisations: SNSF, DFG, NCN, PROV BZ, SAS and UEFISCDI), which trained and familiarised researchers from various disciplines and countries with aspects of this issue.

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Submissions are accepted in either English or French. Please follow the guidelines for authors of the MARTOR journal: http://martor.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro/for-authors/.

Submission timeline:

We invite prospective contributors to send an abstract (300 words) by 1 February 2027.

The results of the initial abstract review will be communicated to contributors by 15 March 2027.

Final texts will be submitted by 15 December 2027.

After this deadline, the editorial process will involve peer review, revision of the texts (if suggested by the reviewers), proof reading, layout and publication on 15 November 2028 (online and printed version).

Proposals, manuscripts, and other editorial correspondence should be sent to the following e-mail: revistamartor@gmail.com.

References:

UNESCO 2017 = Conferința Generală UNESCO de la Paris, 2017, privind Strategia UNESCO pentru acțiune asupra schimbărilor climatice

Hylland Eriksen, Thomas. 2023 [2021]. “Climate change.” In The Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology, edited by Felix Stein. Facsimile of the first edition in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology. http://doi.org/10.29164/21climatechange.

Knox, Hannah and Gambino, Evelina. 2023. “Infrastructure.” In The Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology, edited by Felix Stein. http://doi.org/10.29164/23infrastructure

Susan A Crate. 2011. “Climate and Culture: Anthropology in the Era of Contemporary Climate Change.” Annual Review of Anthropology 40: 175-194. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.104925.

Philip McDermott, Mairéad Nic Craith. 2024. “Intangible Cultural Heritage and Climate Change. Sustainability and Adaptability in a Time of Crisis?” Anthropological Journal of European Cultures” 33(1): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2024.330102.

Philip McDermott, Mairéad Nic Craith. 2025. “Considering Creativity as a Response to Climate Change through Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 34(1): 3-8. https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2025.340102.

Ben Orlove, Neil Dawson, Pasang Sherpa, Ibidun Adelekan, Wilfredo Alangui, Rosario Carmona, Deborah Coen, Melissa Nelson, Victoria Reyes-Garcia, Jennifer Rubis, Gideon Sanago, Andrew Wilson. 2022. ICSM CHC White Paper I: Intangible Cultural Heritage, Diverse Knowledge Systems and Climate Change. Contribution of Knowledge Systems Group I to the International Co-Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change, Charenton-le-Pont & Paris, France: ICOMOS & ICSM CHC: https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2717/, accessed on 10 August 2026.

Magdalena Pasikowska-Schnass. 2024. “Briefing. The impact of climate change on cultural heritage.” European Parliamentary Research Service, April, PE 762.282: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2024/762282/EPRS_BRI(2024)762282_EN.pdf, accessed on 10 August 2026.

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