HISTAGRA Seminar: An environmental history of conflicts over dam construction in Spain and Italy (20th-21st centuries). Presentation of the Marie Curie DAMSECIS project

On Tuesday, 4 November at 3 p.m. (Room 6, Faculty of History, USC), Judit Gil Farrero, Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher at the Università degli Studi dei Bergamo (Italy), will give a lecture entitled "An environmental history of conflicts over dam construction in Spain and Italy (20th-21st centuries). Presentation of the Marie Curie DAMSECIS project."

Hegemonic narratives about reservoirs tend to be positive, and there are few analyses of them as conflicts and ‘sacrifice zones’ from the perspectives of environmental history and environmental justice that consider their impact on local communities over time. There is also a lack of studies on dam construction in a country as a whole and of comparisons between countries to obtain an international overview. This conference will present the DAMSECIS project, which aims to fill these historiographical gaps by identifying the elements that turned dams and reservoirs into environmental conflicts, analysing their impact on local communities from their planning or construction onwards, and constructing an overview of dam construction in Spain and Italy from 1900 to the present day, adopting a comparative and international perspective and revealing what hegemonic narratives have hidden and silenced. Reconstructing a comparative history of dam construction can allow for a better understanding of current phenomena of resistance to renewable energy projects and territorial mediation in these conflicts.

Details:

Date: 04/11/2025

Title: An environmental history of conflicts over dam construction in Spain and Italy (20th-21st centuries). Presentation of the Marie Curie DAMSECIS project

Speaker: Judit Gil Farrero (Università degli Studi dei Bergamo)

Time: 3 p.m.

Venue: Classroom 6, Faculty of History

Further information:

histagra@usc.es

Tel. 881971010 (ext. 100)