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Past Research Projects

Deep Maps: West Cork Coastal Cultures (2015 – 2017)

Deep Maps: West Cork Coastal Cultures (2015 – 2017) develops and uses novel transdisciplinary research techniques that bridge between arts and humanities research and marine biology. The project stimulated public discourse on biodiversity, conservation, climate change, fisheries, aquaculture, pollution, policy and legislation.

This project was funded by the Irish Research Council New Horizons Award and was led by UCC researchers: Professor Claire Connolly (School of English and Digital Humanities) and Prof Rob McAllen (School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences). Deep Maps supported five research assistants and one postdoctoral researcher.

This page outlines the project’s purpose, aims, methods, and outcomes, along with online access to archived materials

The Challenge

Connecting cultural history and marine biological research, Deep Maps fosters ongoing stewardship of Cork’s coast and Ireland’s maritime heritage. The project visualises the coastline in innovative ways and offers a comprehensive approach to understanding place. Deep Maps engages community stakeholders to identify environmental priorities and share their knowledge. Past and present are interwoven as literature, history, science and culture provide new ways of thinking about our endangered marine environment. The project maps the cultural history of the coastline in order to communicate a deeper knowledge of places, history, people and stories.

The Research

Both intensive and extensive, Deep Maps investigates the biological, cultural and historical contexts of the south west coast of Ireland from 1700 to 1920, exploring the maritime environment found along the arc of Cork’s Roaring Water Bay, from Clonakilty to Bantry Bay. In bringing literary traditions together with environmental sciences and digital technologies, Deep Maps demonstrates how coastal sites are reservoirs of personal, cultural and biological data. Knowledge flows from and to community stakeholders, with the goal of increasing public awareness of the rich but intangible heritage of the region. This results in layered storytelling that effectively expresses complex accounts of space and time. As such, Deep Maps departs from literal cartography to bring history, culture and biology together in original visualisations that can be accessed digitally.

The Impact

Deep Maps responds to needs emerging from both humanities and STEM research: in the case of the former, the environmental humanities have posed urgent questions about the scope and scale of human interactions with the environment as represented in literature and other texts; while in the case of marine biology, scientists are increasingly aware of the need to deepen and enrich their understanding of coastal environments via a more nuanced sense of the histories and cultures of these storied places. This transdisciplinary approach draws upon:

  • A scientific literature review;
  • Workshops with community stakeholders;
  • Sketches, photographs, poems, newspapers, letters and other historical artefacts; and
  • Collection and analysis of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data.

The project uses digital media to visualise and connect different kinds of knowledge about the coastline, and establishes dialogue with diverse audiences. This included:

  • A weekly blog series which has reached audiences in Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Russia, Canada, Germany, France and Italy
  • Integrated social media campaigns via Facebook, Twitter, Storify and Instagram;
  • An open access Deep Maps website, incorporating interactive story maps, timelines and apps; and
  • An exhibition within the Glucksman Gallery on the UCC campus, which ran from 4 August - 5 November 2017, that engaged public feedback by taking visitors on a journey from traditional cartography through objects of cultural value and scientific inquiry.

Other engagement included:

  • Artwork, storytelling and surveys with primary school students and teachers at Coomhola National School, Bantry; Rath National School, Baltimore; and the Educate Together National School, Cork City;
  • Academic presentations in Dingle, Co. Kerry; Cardiff, Wales; Sesimbra, Portugal; South Bend, Indiana, United States; Cork City, Co. Cork; and other locations;
  • New collaborations with Skibbereen Heritage Centre; West Cork College; St Peter’s Church; Cork Nature Network; and others;

 

Scholarly outcomes:

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/777001

 

Cited in:

https://www.literarygeographies.net/index.php/LitGeogs/article/view/120

 

English Department

Roinn an Bhéarla

O'Rahilly Building, University College Cork, Cork. Ireland

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