Paper short abstract:

This paper examines impacts of climate variability and extreme weather, and of community or family coping strategies, on children on Orkney in the early 20th century, through a mixed-methods analysis of school logbooks.

Paper long abstract:

Small islands can be perceived as challenging datascapes in which to explore long-term climate impacts. Local meteorological station data may be absent or uncertain, particularly in sparsely populated island peripheries. Yet, observations of weather are not limited to those obtained using instruments; historical narratives (school logbooks, newspaper reports, etc.) can provide valuable insights into past weather, and societal responses to it.

Such data can be treated quantitatively and qualitatively. Indexing can reveal long-term trends but forfeits descriptive depth and detail. Conversely, the narrative as qualitative data may be viewed as anecdotal or unreliable. It is essential, then, to incorporate a variety of methodologies to gain a nuanced perspective of such accounts.

Content analysis of school logbooks from Deerness spanning 1905-1919 was undertaken to index descriptions of climate variables and identify impacts. Impacts are direct, including difficulty travelling, and indirect, including absences from school due to changes in the harvest times or other agricultural events, which are a product of climate variability and broader socio-economic context. Causal loop diagrams are used to conceptualise children's dynamic social-environmental vulnerability, illustrated by references to the narrative account.

What emerges is a detailed picture of the vulnerability of children in past society to climate variation and extremes events, which can help inform measures for fostering child-centred social resilience in contemporary society.