Episode #27: Volcano Voices

Volcanic eruptions can affect the Earth’s climate system, and
climate variability occupies an uncomfortable place in historical
enquiry. Even though human demography and history are closely
connected with environmental conditions and change, most
historians and archaeologists have been reluctant to consider
climate for understanding political, economic, social and
cultural transformations. Much of the scholarship addressing
these complex relationships continues to be constrained by the
disciplinary limits of individuals and institutions.
From November 2021 to January 2024 volcanologist Clive
Oppenheimer and Ulf Büntgen, professor of Environmental Systems
Analysis, were part of the ZiF long-term research group
“Volcanoes, Climate and History”. The research group engaged with
the interface of climate and history in a new way, beginning with
the premise that exchange and dialogue across disciplinary and
epistemological divides should be habitual practice. The research
process was not only documented in scientific publications, but
also in a film, entitled “Volcano Voices. From Ashes to Archives
and Art”. In this Film Clive Oppenheimer leads a journey through
time and ideas, where scientists and artists come together -
united by curiosity and the joy of collaboration - to explore how
volcanic eruptions changed climate and history.


In this episode, Clive Oppenheimer and Ulf Büntgen talk about
film as a means of science communication and the challenges of
making complex research accessible for a wider audience.


 


Links
Ulf Büntgen
Clive Oppenheimer
The research group “Volcanoes, Climate and History”
The film screening at ZiF 


 


 


Further reading
Büntgen U, Cosmo N, Esper J, Frachetti M, Khalidi L, Mauelshagen
F, Rohland E, Oppenheimer C (2026) Volcanoes, Climate, and
Society. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Clive Oppenheimer: Mountains of Fire The Secret Lives of
Volcanoes. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2023