Re-enchanting peatlands through econarratives of grief, solidarity and revival for Irish and Emilian

Peatlands are more than carbon stores. They are storied landscapes: repositories of memory, language, and belonging that have shaped the communities living alongside them for generations. This project brings together two places that, on the surface, could not be more different, namely, Corveen Bog in the Donegal Gaeltacht, where Irish is still the language of daily life, and the high-altitude peatlands of the Tuscan–Emilian Apennines, home to Emilian, an endangered Gallo-Romance language of northern Italy. Both landscapes have been marginalised, extracted from, and are now being restored ecologically and, this project argues, linguistically and culturally too.

Working with schools, archives, and community groups in both regions, this fellowship co-creates econarratives: stories that weave together language, ecology, grief, and renewal. Through archival research, digital storytelling, and community workshops, Irish and Emilian speakers and non-speaking community members will explore how their languages carry care for the natural world, and how that care can be a source of hope for climate action and language revival alike.

The project runs from Sepetmber 2026 to August 2028, it is hosted by the School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore, University College Dublin, and funded by the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship (Research Ireland).

If you are thinking that this project sounds interesting and would like to collaborate, please get in touch! To get in touch, visit my academic profile here.