The Influence of Famine on Roman Reactions to Sixteenth-Century Urban Reconstruction

早期的现代罗马教堂、建筑和道路现在令敬畏的游客交错，许多历史学家在描述塑造了我们今天钦佩的城市的16世纪城市发展时，也有类似的反应。然而，这些反应并不反映这样一个事实，即罗马重建最激烈的时期是与严重的粮食短缺同时发生的。在多次饥荒中幸存下来，在永恒之城的街道上寻找酸面包后，罗马人对他们的家园被毁的奢华建筑项目有什么反应，这些项目直接与他们所遭受的匮乏相矛盾？在我的DPhil研究中，我正在研究饥荒如何影响罗马人对城市项目的反应。在这样做的过程中，我通过探索经常被忽视的非精英人士的声音，扩展了约瑟夫·康纳斯、劳里·努斯多费尔和乔治·西蒙西尼等学者的工作。我的研究建立在亨利·列斐伏尔的工作基础上，通过探索平民与他们的环境之间的辩证关系，而不是仅仅关注当权者的意图信息。我的研究通过提升经常被忽视的抗议声音和普通人的生活经历，提供了对16世纪罗马重建和城市生活的必要重新评估。我的著作也在学术上迈出了新的和必要的一步，将饥饿的文化和社会影响纳入饥荒历史。为了执行这个项目，我正在研究Maestri di Strade和总统Delle Strade(街道官员)的记录，他们经常在业主和那些主要建筑项目之间扮演司法角色。在这些记录中，我研究了建筑方面的冲突，以及提到了公众对此类项目的拒绝。我还在研究罗马的avvisi(时事通讯)，以寻找抗议或民众对城市重建的反应。这种方法的灵感来自人类学家詹姆斯·C·斯科特关于如何见证民众对权力的抗议的微妙形式的研究。我的研究询问城市项目如何影响居民，以及创伤如何塑造对政府建设的城市的公民反应。通过这个项目，我打算提高我们对如何在尊重城市居民过去和现在的经验的同时改善现代城市的理解。

Early Modern Roman churches, buildings, and roads now stagger awe-struck tourists, and many historians react similarly when describing the sixteenth-century urban developments that shaped the city we admire today. These reactions, however, do not reflect the fact that the most intense periods of Roman reconstruction were contemporaneous with severe food shortages. After surviving repeated famines, scrounging for sour bread on the Eternal City's streets, how did Romans react to the destruction of their homes for lavish construction projects that directly contradicted the scarcity they suffered first-hand? For my DPhil research, I am studying how famines affected Romans' reactions to urban projects. In doing so, I am expanding on the work of scholars such as Joseph Connors, Laurie Nussdorfer, and Giorgio Simoncini by exploring the often ignored voices of the non-elite. My studies build off the work of Henri Lefebvre by exploring the dialectical relationship between commoners and their environment, as opposed to solely focusing on the intended message of those in power. My research provides a needed reevaluation of sixteenth-century Roman reconstruction and urban life by uplifting the often overlooked voices of protest and the lived experience of commoners. My work also takes a novel and necessary step in the scholarship by incorporating the cultural and social impacts of hunger into the history of famine. To execute this project, I am exploring the records of the Maestri di Strade and the Presidenze Delle Strade (street officials) who often acted in a judicial role between property owners and those leading construction projects. In these records, I study conflicts over construction, as well as mentions of popular rejection of such projects. I am also studying Roman avvisi (newsletters) for moments of protest or popular reactions to urban reconstruction. This methodology is inspired by the research of anthropologist James C. Scott on how to witness the subtle forms of popular protest to power.My research asks how urban projects affect residents and how trauma shapes civil reactions to the cities their governments construct. Through this project, I intend to heighten our understanding of how to improve modern cities while honoring the past and present experiences of their residents.