Aesthetics of One Health — One Health FIELD Network

Duration: 2022 - 2023

Funding Scheme: UKRI ODA Impact & Development Fund

Principal Investigator: Prof Lisa Boden

The Challenge

Unwritten cultural practices and oral, community-based intergenerational knowledge transmission is disrupted by conflict, or other global shocks (climate change, COVID-19.) Fragmentation of community networks (Zuntz 2021) increases risks that agricultural expert knowledge is permanently lost. Local knowledge, connection and expertise may thus be ignored or inadvertently excluded by intelligence gathering/analysis activities informing humanitarian social and development programmes.

Research Aims

The Aesthetics of One Health project aimed to:

Investigate how aesthetic preferences shape Syrian refugee decision-making in response to One Health threats.
Focus specifically on the role of Syrian women and shifting gender dynamics in agriculture and food security.
Record and validate intangible cultural heritage, especially informal and women-led partnerships and practices.
Use workshops as a method for social, non-hierarchical learning and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Strengthen and expand networks of interdisciplinary and local expertise for future research funding and policy engagement.

Outcomes and Impact

Although originally planned as an in-person collaboration, following the devastating earthquakes in February 2023 in Turkey and Syria, the project pivoted to remote activities. We organised a series of four online sessions that brought together Syrian artists and Syrian women affiliated with the Syrian Women's Association. These conversations centered on traditional agricultural production, the making and cultural significance of "mona" (home-made preserved foods and staples), and the intergenerational transmission of rural knowledge and practices. Many of the participating artists, often with direct lived experience of pre-war Syria, created a series of paintings and musical pieces inspired by these discussions. These works reflect the textures, memories, and enduring spirit of Syrian rural life.

An exhibition of the artworks produced during the project is currently being planned for Refugee Week 2025.