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Paper short abstract

How are environmental disasters documented in archives, and how are they remembered by those who survived them? Combining archival research and oral history interviews, this paper juxtaposes top-down and vernacular forms of knowledge production about environmental history.

Paper long abstract

The highlands of Adjara, a western region of the Republic of Georgia, have been known for land shortage, erosion, and frequent landslides. As far as highlanders remember, the landslides have always been part of their and their ancestors’ lives. During the Soviet period, environmental policies, including laws on the rational use of resources, led to systematic documentation of disaster prevention and land management, such as monitoring risks and implementing erosion control measures like terracing. Yet, how do highlanders themselves remember these events and the changing ecology around them? This paper combines archival research with oral history interviews with disaster survivors to explore the lived experience of environmental change in the Georgian highlands. It examines the implementation of Soviet environmental governance and highlights the stories and perspectives that remain absent from official records, offering new insights into how vernacular micro-histories can reshape our understanding of environmental history.