{"id":188411,"date":"2025-12-05T10:39:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T09:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cost.eu\/?p=188411"},"modified":"2025-12-17T15:33:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:33:25","slug":"long-read-tracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cost.eu\/long-read-tracts\/","title":{"rendered":"Long read: traces that connect us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\n \n \"TRACTS\"\n\n <\/div>\n\n
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Traces that connect us<\/div>\n
COST Action TRACTS<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
COST LONG READS  <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Across Europe and beyond, traces of the past, such as artefacts, memories and landscape scars, tell stories about who we are and how we live. Until recently, however, there was no single field that brought together the scientists, artists, curators and activists who study these traces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The COST Action Traces as a Research Agenda for Climate Change, Technology and Social Justice<\/a> (TRACTS) has taken on the challenge.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Action\u2019s biggest achievement was to establish trace studies as an interdisciplinary field that connects the past with the present to inform the future\u201d,<\/em> said Dr Magdalena Buchczyk from the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Action Chair. \u201cThis scientific field gives us a fresh, critical perspective for tackling today\u2019s most urgent issues, from climate change and rapid technological shifts to questions of social justice\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRACTS connected over 300 researchers from over 30 countries, creating new ways to understand how material and digital traces, visible and hidden, shape our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through 30 international meetings, five training schools, and 55 research grants, TRACTS transformed these early conversations into a vibrant, global network. The COST framework provided participants with something rare in academia: the time and trust necessary to explore new connections across disciplines that rarely meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCOST opened the box of anthropology for me,\u201d<\/em> she recalled. ‘It was a catalyst for conversations between artists, activists, scientists, philosophers, archaeologists and environmental humanities scholars that I would never otherwise have had.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Conversations on climate, technology, and justice<\/div>\n
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Each TRACTS\u2019 Working Group (WG) focused on a different aspect of traces in today’s world, such as climate change, technology, social justice or ethics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WG \u2018Trace as Ethical, Methodological, and Conceptual Challenge\u2019<\/strong> helped define \u2018trace\u2019 as a shared scientific concept and proved that real interdisciplinarity is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t talk about the climate crisis without also addressing indigenous claims to land, or without looking at the role of technology in proposed solutions\u201d,<\/em> explained Dr Lee Douglas, WG leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe talk a lot about interdisciplinarity, but in practice it\u2019s much harder than it sounds. TRACTS has really made it happen\u201d,<\/em> said Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe humanities and social sciences help us learn from the past, think critically about the present, and imagine solutions for the future.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Lee Douglas<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The WG \u2018Traces and Social Justice\u2019<\/strong>, led by Dr Sanja Horvatin\u010di\u0107 and Dr Karolina Pauknerov\u00e1, addressed the legacies of violence, colonialism and inequality, subjects that remain politically charged but necessary to confront with care. \u201cTracing and traces bring us closer to the current challenges such as war, migration and injustice,\u201d <\/em>said Sanja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you work with sensitive topics like violence and dispossession, you must stay aware and not harm anyone. The goal is to be as ethical as possible\u201d,<\/em> adds Karolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WG \u2018Traces and Climate Change\u2019<\/strong> focused on traces in relation to climate change, specifically examining the social impact of natural disasters, loss of biodiversity, and environmental degradation (e.g., post-mining and post-conflict landscapes, and rewilding).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLandscapes contain many layers of history,\u201d<\/em> said Alberto Berzosa, co-leader of the WG. \u201cLearning how to read these layers helps us explain our reality in much more detail. This perspective allows us to see landscapes not just as scenery or physical spaces, but as complex records of ecological and social change.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WG \u2018Trace & Technology\u2019<\/strong> examined how society, innovation and technology both shape and transform the world around us. The group used tools such as satellite imagery to reveal the impact of human activities on landscapes. It also debated the ethical use of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence. \u201cTechnology is a tool for investigating traces, but we must also be critical of the traces it creates,\u201d<\/em> explained Dr Ivan \u0160ulc, WG co-leader.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bringing traces to life<\/div>\n
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The task of the WG \u2018Dissemination and Communication<\/strong>\u2019, led by architect and filmmaker Bahanur Nasya, was to make such complex ideas accessible to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe worked with artistic, inspiring and inviting approaches through films, digital technologies and creative practices,\u201d<\/em> she said. \u201cBy building on the existing skills of our network, we were able to engage wider audiences in a very direct and inspiring way,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Magdalena Zych, the Science Communication Coordinator, emphasised the same point. \u201cTransferring knowledge into society is one of the most important goals for the future,\u201d<\/em> she explained. \u201cI believe this is one of TRACTS’s key lessons: through international collaboration, we can rethink how museums and cultural institutions work with traces of the past to better serve society today.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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