S1421 Russia, Europe and Neptune: Water Environment and Intercultural Circulation of Technologies in Modern Time

The course will discuss different aspects of interaction between the human society and water environment through the perspective of modernization. It consists of two parts - “The conquest of the Ocean” and “Technologies and ideas” dedicated respectively to the interrelation with oceanic environment and with the urban water bodies. The story of large-scale circulation of ideas and technologies on the vast space between Russia and Europe will be the central part of the course.

The course “Technologies and ideas” is proposed for Section B (Cultures of the World) point 6 – Intercultural communications.

The course “The conquest of the Ocean” is proposed as additional course to complete the picture provided by the main course.

The courses will be based on the results of practical research conducted in the Center for Environmental History of the European University at St. Petersburg for more than 10 years.

1. Technologies and ideas of interaction between the city and the water in modernizing World: Venice, Amsterdam and St. Petersburg (18-19 cc).

The course will be based on the concept of the city as a socio-natural site considering the city as the hybrid result of the common, entangled history of nature and society (definition proposed by M. Schmid and V. Winiwarter). The river cities like St. Petersburg should be approached as such a socio-natural site to understand why they transformed like they transformed in the past.

At the time of founding of St. Petersburg both Russia and Europe had some experience of interrelations between the urban settlements and water bodies (Venice and Amsterdam are the first examples to be mentioned), but in the era of modernization the human society obtained unprecedental posibilities to change the environment according to human needs and ideas and the course will explore different aspects of this process considering Amsterdam, St. Petersburg and Venice as the main centers of hydraulic expertise and the keypoints of development and distribution of technologies.

Technology obviously plays a decisive role in the transformation of a socio-natural site. Apparently, technology is much more than a human means of transformation of nature. Rather, technology itself is transformed by the nature which is never fully controlled by humans. In St. Petersburg the peculiar qualities of the locale (including the river) evoked specific technologies to deal with riverine landscape. And the engineers sometimes were surprised by the long-term legacies of their technological interventions into the natural processes.

Modernization which is a multifaceted process that changed river-city relations in many respects is the second basic concept important for the course. Floods, sedimentation, siltation, changing river arms, ice and thaw, all posed a considerable challenge to humans answered by different actors (administration, engineers etc.). The formation of St. Petersburg as a modern European city having the Neva as its main core (“the space of modernity”) was the final result of these answers.

Transfer and circulation of ideas and technologies is the third basic idea of the course. The methods and ideas of technological answers for the natural challenges circulated more and more actively with the rise and development of the modern society based on the free dissemination of knowledge and expertise. Technological transfers had different forms and the course will explore the methods used in St. Petersburg from the invitation of foreign experts to the promotion of foreign trips for engineers and technicians.

During lectures and workshops we will explore the interactions between environment, economy and culture on different levels. The course will explore the role of the water in the history and life of the socio-natural site and address several very general problems of transfer and adaptation of technologies along with the discussion of their relevance/irrelevance to the particular environmental conditions. Why the mothods of flood control that worked in Vienna turned out to be useless in St. Petersburg? How engineers got their social status? What were the major ways of technological transfers and what ideas were used as a base by the administrators who controlled the borrowing of technologies? What were consequences of administrative decisions and technological improvements for the everyday life and for the natural environment?

Teaching and evaluation methods

The course will include lectures, workshops and field trips.
During the lectures I will provide the necessary general info on the history of St. Petersburg and the Neva. The main idea is to avoid too much lecturing and concentrate more on the interaction with the audience which is only possible during workshops.
The workshops will be based on three major methods:
-Discussion of important relevant papers.
-Student presentations.
-Practical work with historical sources.

During the field trip we will explore the Venetian heritage connected to the interrelations with the Sea and analyze it through the comparative perspective trying to see similaritites and differences between the Northen Venice and La Serenissima itself.

The evaluation will be based on:
-Students work on the seminars
-Work on the field trips