Environmental History News

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Sunday, 7 February 2010

Environments: the 79th Anglo American Conference of Historians. Programme released

The programme for the 79th Anglo American Conference of Historians has been released online. This conference with the theme "Environments", will be hosted by the Institute of Historical Research in London on 1-2 July 2010. View the programme at the conference website.

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

New Environmental History podcast: Envirohistory NZ Podcast

A new envinmental history podcast has been launched: Envirohistory NZ has now its own podcast. This is the third regular podcast on environmental history Besides Nature's Past and Exploring Environmental History. The podcast is hosted by Catherine Knight, author of the Envirohistory Blog, and is produced bi-monthly. The podcasts will discuss themes explored in articles on the blog and will also include interviews with people researching or “making” environmental history. Tune in at envirohistorynz.wordpress.com/podcasts-2/

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

Nature's Past Episode 12: Industrialization in Subarctic Environments

The latest episode of the Nature's Past podcast features an interview with Professor Liza Piper on her new book The Industrial Transformation of Subarctic Canada. The podcast explores a region unfamiliar to most Canadians and how that space was transformed through industrial processes in the twentieth century. Rather than finding industrial technologies dominating the landscape of the northwest, Professor Piper found that humans used those technologies to assimilate nature.

Listen to the podcast on the NiCHE website.

Thursday, 14 January 2010

CFP: First Conference of East Asian Environmental History (EAEH2011)

24-28 October 2011, Taipei, Taiwan

The newly established Association of East Asian Environmental History invites papers for its first conference which will be hosted by Academia Sinica, Taipei. The General Theme is: Resource Utilizations and Impacts

The First Conference of East Asian Environmental History (EAEH2011) aims to provide an opportunity for scholars to learn from each other and to identify important environmental issues with historical perspectives. We need to gain new insights through comparative studies and to learn from each other with regard to methods and sources. We invite papers dealing with themes suggested above for East Asia in any period. Although the study of environmental history is closely related to local histories and situations, we need to explore and identify common factors that have been influential beyond local and national boundaries.

Visit the website for more details and to submit a proposal.

Monday, 4 January 2010

First International Workshop on the History of Environment and Global Climate Change: Water, Ecology, Deforestation, Agriculture, Politics and the Management of Nature

7-8 May 2010, Braga, Portugal

This two-day international workshop aims to bring together the leading scholars sharing a common interest in the environmental and climate histories to deliberate on the subject. The present workshop will make an attempt to address the broad areas of environmental concern in human societies across the globe and the complex patterns of the human- nature relationships by focusing on the history of climate change.

Climatic change through a long duree period and its impact on the rise or decline of civilizations are now worth looking into. Rising or falling temperatures, monsoon behaviour, melting of snow on the mountains, rising sea levels, more powerful storms and cyclones may have a message to convey regarding the interactions of the humans with the natural world. In Asia, Africa and the Asia Pacific in particular, climate had been central to the growth or prosperity of human civilizations. It was most crucial to rice production or settled agriculture.

There is little disagreement among the scholars engaged in Environmental History that history of climate is important to the discipline. The proposed International Workshop on the History of Climate is the first of its kind and it will address some of the fundamental questions most relevant to the very discipline of Environmental History.

Interested scholars are invitation to attend this prestigious workshop. For more information visit the workshop website.

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

CFP 6th conference European Society for Environmenal History (ESEH), "Encounters of Sea and Land"

Turku, Finland, June 2011

The European Society for Environmental History is inviting proposals for sessions, papers and posters for its next international conference. It will take place in Turku, Finland, from June 28 to July 2, 2011. The venues will be Turku University and Abo Akademi University.

Inspired by Turku’s surroundings, which include Europe’s largest archipelago, the main theme of the meeting is “Encounters of Sea and Land”. We encourage proposals that explore the general theme from various environmental history perspectives, such as:

The emergence of environmental crises of the seas
Phases of conservation of inland waters, seas, and coasts
Historical perspectives on marine biodiversity
History of whaling, fishing and overfishing
Exploitation of marine resources, such as water, gas, oil, seaweeds, in the past
History of marine pollution including material flows from land to sea
History of maritime mobility
Development of catchment areas as environmental and socio-economic systems
Environmental history of urban coastal areas
Landscapes and seascapes: changes in the environment and interpretations
Islands and archipelagos as natural habitats and social communities

However, contributions on other topics are equally welcome. Potential fields include, but are not limited to:

Reconstruction of historical weather and climate, and adaptation to climate changes in the past
Environmental history of the polar regions
Development of environmental movements
Dimensions of forest history
Urban environmental history
History of man-animal relationship, food supply and biodiversity
Industrial environmental history
Production, consumption and waste: commodity chains in environmental history
Cultural values and economic interests: retrospective environmental analyses
Theories and methods in environmental history

The conference covers all periods and all areas of the globe. In keeping with a cherished tradition of the field, the conference is open to scholars from all disciplines and backgrounds. We encourage submissions from graduate students. The conference language is English; no submissions in other languages will be accepted.

The deadline for submissions is May 3, 2010.

Submitting a Proposal
All proposals need to be submitted through our online submission system. Please visit http://eseh2011.utu.fi/ and follow the instructions. The scientific committee will accept printed or emailed submissions in exceptional circumstances only.

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Exploring Environmental History Podcast nominated for European Podcast Award

The Exploring Environmental History Podcast has been nominated for a European Podcast Award. You can show your appreciation and support by voting for the show. You can award up to 5 stars for the content and design of the show – don’t forget to click on the “Vote and win!” button! A jury of specialists will make the final decisions, but your vote will be taken into account. Voting deadline is 1 February 2010.

Wednesday, 3 June 2009

Rural History 2010: an international conference dedicated to rural economies and societies

The British Agricultural History Society has taken the initiative to convene the first international open meeting dedicated solely to rural history. This will take place in September 2010 at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. This meeting will be open to all rural historians as well as those primarily interested in viewing contemporary conditions and likely future developments with a knowledge of the past. The conference does not accept that rural history has any single definition, nor does it admit any bounds, and the conference has no intellectual affiliation. It is open to those approaching rural history from any perspective, ranging from those of archaeology, anthropology and ethnography through rural geography, landscape studies and rural sociology to post-modern cultural approaches to the countryside. It will be equally concerned with the countryside as a place of production of foodstuffs as with as the countryside as a place of consumption of leisure and the location of heritage and national memory. Papers will be welcomed on all periods from the prehistoric to the very modern; and there are no geographical limitations on the area of study. Comparative discussions which deal with rural society as a whole will be especially welcome, together with accounts which seek parallels between present day agrarian problems and the past. It is intended that the conference should be the first in a series of biennial or triennial conferences and the Brighton conference will be the occasion when either a European rural history society or a continuation committee of some sort will be formed.

More information about this initiative can be found on the website of the British Agricultural History Society: www.bahs.org.uk/rh2010cfp.htm

Wedneday, 6 August 2008

New MSc in Landscape, Environment and History: recruitment now open

Online interface of MSc

The University of Edinburgh's new MSc in Landscape, Environment and History has started to recruite stdents. This new MSc explores developments in the changing landscape and environment and offers an exciting new eLearning based approach to graduate studies. The programme is a distance learning course and the latest digital learning technologies are used to deliver course materials online. Anyone, anywhere in the world with a first degree or equivalent experience can sign up for this MSc.

The programme will appeal to students all over the world who wish to study for a Master's degree where history meets politics and ecology, where heritage and history intersect, and where historical urban landscapes and the built environment are of interest.

The MSc programme:

explores the history, archaeology and ecology of landscapes, using Scottish examples set in national and international contexts
illuminates how urban and rural space and resources have changed over time
develops independent study and research skills

The course is written by a team of senior academics in social and urban history, environmental history, archaeology, conservation, and politics who have combined with curators and librarians in the National Library of Scotland, Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and other cultural organisations to produce video lectures, interactive learning modules, and virtual tours. It is a unique assembly of expertise and digital resources.

This learning environment is complemented with online e-resources - books, journal articles and a range of original sources through Edinburgh University Library's extensive list of digital subscriptions. There is a strong Scottish flavour to the examples and exercises yet the course draws on national and international contexts and scholarly literature from several disciplines.

For a taster session of the teaching materials and further details about the course go to www.shc.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/landscape/ or download the flyer or poster.

Environmental History Resources