Intensive graduate seminar
“Time in environment: methodological implications of narrating”
26-28 March 2013, Tallinn and Sagadi, Estonia

The course will be held in conjunction with the conference “Time in Environment and Environmental History” (25-26 March, Tallinn)

Organizer: Estonian Centre for Environmental History (KAJAK).
In co-operation with the Estonian Graduate School of Culture Studies and Arts (GSCSA, University of Tartu) and Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society

The seminar is centered around time- and environment-related methodological problems. The seminar consists of individual tasks and group-works that are meant to apply the theoretical ideas presented in the lectures of the conference “Time in Environment and Environmental History”in research practice. The aim of the seminar is to draw attention to the specifics of time as a methodological tool of research and narration; to the temporal diversity of different environmental processes and phenomena; to the challenges related with the need to model the temporal processes in the environment.

For initial program and introduction of lecturers please follow this link.

Requirements for participation

Interested graduate students (maximum 15) can apply for the seminar by sending a letter of motivation (ca 100 words) to ktkdk [at] ut.ee by 25 January. You will be notified of your participation by the 5 February. Students are expected to participate in the conference “Time in Environment and Environmental History” preceding the seminar on 25-26 March in Tallinn and do preparatory reading in order to participate in the seminar workshops. Extra credits are awarded for an oral or poster presentation at the conference “Time in Environment and Environmental History”.

ECTS points will be awarded on the following conditions:
2 ETC for participation in the seminar and conference
+ 2 ETC for participating in the conference with a presentation or a poster presentation

Participation in the course is free of charge; the accommodation and travel costs of the students of GSCSA will be reimbursed.

The language of the seminar and conference is English.

The seminar venues:
Tallinn University, Institute of History
Sagadi hostel

The event is supported by the European Union through the European Social Fund (Estonian Graduate School of Culture Studies and Arts), Estonian Centre for Environmental History (KAJAK) and Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society

From Instants to Eons: Time in Environment and Environmental History
International Conference organized by the Centre for Environmental History in Estonia (KAJAK)
Tallinn, 25-26 March 2013

Deadline for application: 20 December 2012

Environment and environmental history feature countless diverse and often hardly reconcilable time scales. While “time” is probably one of the least questioned concepts in experimental science, being the basis of objectivity in measurements, it becomes infinitely diversified in the phenomenal world. Evolutionary, ecological, geological, cyclic, perennial, organismic, human (that is, specifically cultural) times are all indispensable elements of every environment and environmental historical treatment. At any given moment, the environment is shaped by the mostly short lived organisms acting here and now and long-term processes like evolution, ecological and climatic cycles or the birth and disappearance of human civilizations. This diversity in times in environment and history poses also several methodological challenges, especially concerning the research material and metalanguage. The understanding of time and the choice of time scales is one the most fundamental components of environmental historical narratives and analysis.

Please send an abstract (300 words) and your CV to sillaso [at] tlu.ee.

Further details are available in the full call for papers.

Knowledge about Natural Resources. Challenges of the Exploration and Exploitation of Natural Resources in East Central Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries

A joint conference of the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe – Institute of the Leibniz Association (Marburg), the Collegium Carolinum (Munich) and the Centre for Environmental History (Tallinn)

Marburg, Germany, 18-20 April 2013

With the establishment of statistics, national economy, geography and their neighbouring disciplines, from the 19th century on the exploration and exploitation of natural resources was intensified, since it was regarded as a basic prerequisite for economic development and growth. This concept held true not only for the overseas colonies of Western European nations, but also for the heartlands themselves, whose potential economic performance was to be measured and recorded.
The attention concentrated not only on the classic fuels of the industrialisation such as coal and iron, but also the potentials of agriculture and forestry, the raw materials of upcoming branches of industry (chemical industry, electrical engineering, etc.), the capacity of the transport system and last but not least the human being itself as the source of manpower. In the empires of East Central Europe – and its newly founded states of 1918 respectively – a large variety of protagonists from politics, science, industry and society took an active role in this process.

The conference is intended to approach its topic, the exploration and exploitation of natural resources in East Central Europe, from a perspective related to the history of knowledge and environment and brings the following key questions into focus:

- Scientific and General Knowledge about Natural Resources: Which relations or even tensions arise between scientific knowledge about natural resources and traditional (local) knowledge? Which forces of inertia do appear in the local inventories of knowledge?

- Knowledge about the Economy and Ecology of Natural Resources: Which economic and ecological aspects of the exploration and exploitation of natural resources are reflected in scientific and general knowledge. Which hopes, problems and challenges for the environment are referred to by the protagonists? How do they discuss
the relationship between economic and ecological aspects of the exploitation of natural resources? Which kind of relationship between different types of resources do they establish?

- Having Knowledge of Natural Resources ? Being in Control of Natural Resources: Which political claims are connected to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources? Which political, social or economic aspects have an impact on research and exploration projects? Which political, social and/or ethnic-national tensions emerge from the clash of different knowledge bases?

- Language, Knowledge and Natural Resources: Which role does academic and everyday language play in dealing with natural resources? In which way did the multiple linguistic, ethnic and social interactions in East Central Europe shape the science-based exploration and exploitation of natural resources? Which modes of
exchange of methods and work results can be identified throughout language boundaries? Which kind of relationships appear between the pre-dominant academic languages and the national languages? Which processes of transfer and translation shape the exchange of knowledge between different languages? Which role play terms and definitions, symbols and sign systems (cartography, formulas, etc.) in the exchange of knowledge?

The conference puts emphasis on East Central Europe from the late 18th century to the be-ginning of World War II. Presentations to adjacent regions (Scandinavia, Balkan, etc.), comparisons between East Central European case examples and other areas as well as ground-breaking projects on other epochs would also be highly appreciated.

The number of participants is limited to 16-18 persons. Each application should come with an entitled abstract of the intended presentation (3,000 characters maximum), a short account on the author (CV) as well as his or her contact details. The abstracts of the invitees are go¬ing to be compiled to a reader which is send to all participants in advance. The official languages of the conference will be German and English. The closing date is 30 November 2012 and applicants will be informed about their application until the mid of December the latest. Any travelling and accommodation costs are covered by the organisers.

Please send your application electronically (preferably in Microsoft Word file format) to:

Dr. Heidi Hein-Kircher
Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung ?
Institut der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft
Wissenschaftsforum
Gisonenweg 5-7
D-35037 Marburg
Email: forum [at] herder-institut.de

Turning Points in Baltic and Central East European Food History – Knowledge, Consumption, and Production in Changing Environments
Tallinn, 29th–31st August, 2012

The first international conference of the Estonian research project, ‘Baltic Food History’, is supported by the tandem cooperation for the advancement of environmental history in Eastern European and Baltic Studies, between KAJAK (Centre for Environmental History, Tallinn) and the Herder Institute in Marburg/Germany.

“Environmental history begins in the belly” (Donald Worster)

Food links people to their environments in the most direct way. Food history is therefore a central part of environmental history, linking external factors such as climate, soil, economy, and politics with the intimate environment of the body itself. (Trans-)cultural food-knowledge, production and consumption mutually shape each other in a constant process of transfor­mation.

Together with global changes (climate change, colonialism, industrialisation etc.), the con­ference will focus in particular on the specific regional characteristics of the Baltic countries and Central East Europe. This is all the more necessary since, despite the complex inter-ethnic composition, class structures and trade relations in the Baltic area and Poland, there have only been a few comparative studies made of the historical and trans-cultural food cul­ture of the region which draw upon the latest research in this field. The main focus of this international and interdisciplinary conference will be upon the continuities and discontinuities in Baltic food history and in contemporary Baltic food studies:

Possible topics are:
● Knowledge – Knowledge of food and food-cultures between cultural contact and the demarcation of boundaries
● Production – Food as an economic and political resource
● Exchange – Import and export of foodstuffs, transfer of knowledge, techniques and practices
● Consumption and self-sufficiency

This conference constitutes the first in a small series of conferences on environmental history which are being organised in cooperation with the Herder Institute in Marburg and the Insti­tute of History, Tallinn University. The aim of this series is, from a comparative perspective, to reach an appraisal of the state of current research on the environmental history of the Bal­tic region and Central Eastern Europe, and to draw impulses from this for further research. We therefore also welcome topics whose focus lies beyond the actual region itself, but which can still offer an important methodological contribution.

We will invite up to 15 academics to the conference. Presentations should be no longer than 20 minutes in length. Young academics are encouraged to present their research projects in poster presentations of around 10 minutes in length.

The language of the conference will be English, but presentations may also be made in German. The organisers will cover the costs of accommodation in Tallinn and if necessary a proportional takeover of the travel costs after (please contact the organizers before).

A printable version of this CfP, in both German and English, is downloadable here.

Please send your abstracts (max. 500 words) to:
Heidi Hein-Kircher (heidi.hein-kircher [at] herder-institut.de) and Ulrike Plath (ulrike [at] utkk.ee).
The deadline for applications is April 15th 2012.