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UID:pretalx-spathum24-RSUFSE@pretalx.com
DTSTART;TZID=CET:20240927T103000
DTEND;TZID=CET:20240927T110000
DESCRIPTION:This paper will present the open-source methodology developed a
 s part of the InfraLives/RegInfra projects. This combined team\, based at 
 the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam and KU Leuven\
 , is examining how the construction and maintenance of major infrastructur
 es such as roads\, walls\, and bridges shaped relationships between state 
 power and regional entities in late imperial China (1000-1900). The creati
 on of infrastructure involved the intentions and actions of many different
  actors at local\, regional\, and state levels\, which were mitigated by f
 actors such as economic realities\, environmental events\, and conflicts. 
 Untangling these factors requires the ability to handle large datasets fro
 m a variety of different sources in a spatiotemporal framework. This paper
  will demonstrate the methodology developed to address such needs\, both w
 ithin our specific project and spatial humanities projects in general. \nW
 e will first explain the workflow of our project. The workflow involves 1)
  the annotation of infrastructural events (including spatial references) i
 n historical gazetteers and visual images\, 2) organizing and structuring 
 the data into an event schema\, and 3) analyzing data in a spatial and net
 work analysis platform.  We will demonstrate and discuss the processes inv
 olved in each of these steps\, and the programs which were developed for t
 his work. \nSubsequently\, we will present three case studies focused on c
 ity walls and bridges in late imperial Shanxi\, Fujian\, and Hebei provinc
 es\, which use this methodology to address the following questions: 1) wha
 t kinds of actors were involved in the creation\, maintenance\, and destru
 ction of infrastructure\, 2) what were the driving forces (environmental\,
  political etc.) behind the construction of these objects\, and 3) what we
 re the physical materials and processes that were involved and how was lab
 or organized?\nThe first case study\, focused on Shanxi\, will examine the
  material transformation of walls in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuri
 es. During this time\, walls were newly built or rebuilt using more solid 
 materials such as bricks or stones to strengthen their defense capacities 
 against foreign incursions and internal disturbances. The subjects of this
  transformation include both the extensive wall structures built on Ming-M
 ongol boundaries (known as the Ming Great Walls) and the enclosed wall str
 uctures\, including military forts and cities under the civilian administr
 ation. Based on the textual inscriptions and city maps in gazetteers\, thi
 s work visualizes the evolution of masonry walls in Ming northern frontier
 s of Shanxi\, and analyses who drove this transformation. Local magistrate
 s and elites led this transformation despite famines and local food crises
  in the challenging time of the Little Ice Age. This case study investigat
 es the contribution of local actors\, and how their interests were reflect
 ed in the physicality of city wall compounds in terms of the choices of bu
 ilding materials\, dimensions\, and attached facilities to the main wall b
 ody\, such as barbicans\, towers\, and platforms.\nThe second case\, focus
 ed on Fujian\, examines the spatial distribution of Buddhist involvement i
 n bridge and city wall constructions and overlaps the results with a spati
 al visualization of Buddhist institutions to explore relationships between
  state power and regional entities. Inscriptions in late imperial Chinese 
 gazetteers give the impression that infrastructure construction was primar
 ily a joint undertaking between local magistrates and elites\, which is no
 t surprising considering the importance of both in the compilation of gaze
 tteers. However\, frequent references to Buddhist monks hint at an importa
 nt role for religious groups in the construction of infrastructure. The co
 mparison between city walls and bridges\, which differ significantly in te
 rms of scale\, cost\, and strategic value\, helps to visualize the extent 
 of Buddhist involvement in infrastructure construction. In addition\, whil
 e inscriptions often mention individual Buddhist monks involved in constru
 ction projects\, the spatial visualization of Buddhist institutions shows 
 the extent to which these individuals were embedded in broader Buddhist in
 frastructures. This case study uses infrastructure events to highlight the
  role of Buddhists in local society and their relationship with local magi
 strates and elites.\nThe final case study\, focused on Hebei\, examines th
 e representations of bodies of water and infrastructures such as city wall
 s. It makes use of a comparative analysis of textual inscriptions preserve
 d in gazetteers and visual materials such as sketches of maps found in the
 se same gazetteers. Hebei exhibits vastly different geographical condition
 s. By locating counties in their geographic reality\, we can identify patt
 erns of vulnerability regarding water-related issues that counties in spec
 ific locations faced. Comparison to events mentioned in inscriptions that 
 directly impacted walls and bridges at these locations shows how this vuln
 erability was understood and managed. After collecting relevant informatio
 n on destruction and construction events through text annotation the visua
 l representation of the counties in question within the gazetteers is anno
 tated and analyzed by looking at the image in detail\, utilizing an iconog
 raphical approach. Here the divergence of the images depicting the county 
 landscape from other maps and the topographical reality comes into focus a
 nd reveals the attitudes of the producers toward the environment and their
  perceived place within it.\nThe methodology discussed here is generalizab
 le and open source and therefore can be adapted by scholars working in spa
 tial humanities. We will conclude our paper by discussing how other resear
 chers can take advantage of this workflow for their projects.
DTSTAMP:20260317T005157Z
LOCATION:MG1/02.05
SUMMARY:An End-to-End Open-Source Methodology For Spatial Humanities:  From
  Textual Annotation to Spatial Analysis of Infrastructure in Late Imperial
  China - Sunkyu Lee\, Taylor Zaneri\, Sander Molenaar\, Meret Elisabeth Me
 ister
URL:https://pretalx.com/spathum24/talk/RSUFSE/
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