Historical Flows, Digital Tools: Digital Humanities and the Respatialization of History

30. October 2026 - 09:00 bis 18:00
Conference

Since the 2000s, spatial history has increasingly been associated with GIS-driven, data-intensive research. In the context of our FNS project, Sea-Border and Air-Space Formation in the Interwar Middle East: A Trans-Imperial Perspective, we aim to study the formation and effects of interwar maritime and airspace borders.

By constructing a database that assembles underutilized archives, such as sea and air travel tickets and cargo manifests, we aim to analyze the evolution of maritime and air circulation of people and goods through ports and airports. These maritime and aerial flows did not occur in a political vacuum; airports and ports served as sites of interaction among international and local commercial and political actors who engaged in cooperation, competition, and negotiation.

This workshop will examine various methods of quantitative research, bringing together scholars experienced in data collection, extraction, visualization, and network and GIS analyses. By integrating several quantitative digital analysis techniques and layering multiple spatial scales, this workshop explores the interaction between local agency and transnational or transimperial mobility across different geographical and temporal settings.

Confirmed Speakers
Sara Irina Fabrikant (University of Zurich) 
Brancesco Beretta (University of Neuchâtel) 
Béatrice Vaienti (EPFL) 
Léo Buillard (University of Neuchâtel) 
Sara Zanotta (University of Torino) 
Carl José Abi Hanna (University of Neuchâtel) 
David Motzafi Haller (University of Neuchâtel)

Queries should be addressed to Dr. Motzafi Haller, at David.Motzafi@unine.ch

 

Programm

9h30 Welcome and Coffee

10h00 Introduction
Jordi Tejel (Université de Neuchâtel)

10h15 Keynote
Spatialization as a Life Raft to Navigate the Seas of Information. 
Sara Irina Fabrikant (Universität Zürich)

11h15 Coffee break

11h30 Panel 1
Data Extraction and Database Structuring 
Producing Interoperable Open Research Data on Travel, Navigation and Transportation: The Semantic Data for the Humanities and Social Sciences (SDHSS) approach. 
Francesco Beretta (Université de Neuchâtel)

Reading Errors as Evidence: Computational Methods for Tracing 
Cartographic Genealogies in Western Maps of Jerusalem (1810-1925). 
Béatrice Vaienti (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

Neuchâtel en quête d’ailleurs. Étude de registres de passeports (1870-1914). 
Léo Buillard (Université de Neuchâtel)

13h30 Lunch

15h00 Panel 2
Digital Appliances Furnishing Spatial Analysis
Digital Tools and Spatial Histories of Persianate Mobility and Mixedness in the Red Sea. 
Sara Zanotta (Università di Torino)

Exploring Maritime Mobility in Beirut during the Mandate Period: The Mariette Pacha Reports as a Case Study. 
Carl José Abi Hanna (Université de Neuchâtel)

Aerial Roadmaps: The Development of Commercial Air Travel in the Greater Levant, 1920-1945. 
David Motzafi Haller (Université de Neuchâtel)

17h00 Concluding Remarks and Farewells

Contact (announcement)

david.motzafi@unine.ch

Organised by
Dr. David Motzafi-Haller, Institut d'Histoire, Université de Neuchâtel

Veranstaltungsort

Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
Espace Tilo-Frey 1
2000 
Neuchâtel

Kontakt

David Motzafi Haller

Kosten

CHF 0.00