The European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC), are pleased to announce the call for entries for the 2019 Turku Book Prize in European Environmental History that they jointly sponsor every two years.

With the purpose of identifying and encouraging excellent, innovative, and well-written scholarship in the field of European environmental history, the prize is worth €3,000 and will be awarded at the Tenth Biennial ESEH Conference to be held in Tallinn, Estonia, in August 2019. This prize rewards authors and books that are European and therefore does not compete with other environmental history prizes that recognize work relating to other parts of the world.

Criteria: Entries must be

• single-authored monographs
• original work recognizable as European environmental history
• published in 2017 or 2018;
• received by 31 January 2019.

Applicants must submit three copies* of the book by mail to the Rachel Carson Center at the address below, as well as a digital copy (preferably a PDF file) to turku2019@rcc.lmu.de. If the book is published in a language other than English, please include a one-page English summary.

Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society
Turku Book Prize
Leopoldstrasse 11a
80802 München
Germany

*For some publication models (e.g., print on demand, open access), it may be difficult to supply three hard copies of the book. In this event, please contact turku2019@rcc.lmu.de for advice.

The committee consists of:

Jane Carruthers (chair), University of South Africa, South Africa
Eva Jakobsson, University of Stavanger, Norway
Christof Mauch, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich, Germany
Stefan Dorondel (Board representative), Institute of Anthropology, Bucharest, Romania
Marianna Dudley, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

A downloadable version of this announcement is available here.

10th Biennial European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) Conference

Boundaries in/of Environmental History

Tallinn, Estonia, 21 to 25 August 2019

Hosting institution: Estonian Centre for Environmental History (KAJAK), Tallinn University

The European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) is pleased to invite proposals for sessions, individual papers, roundtables, posters and other, more experimental forms of communicating scholarship for its 2019 biennial conference.

Boundary studies is a rapidly growing field of interdisciplinary research that is increasingly relevant in historical research, for example, through studies on trans­national or migration histories, global and colonial environments, relations of humans and animals or technical systems. After a successful conference in Zagreb where we tackled boundaries as contact zones in between, we would like to turn inwards and address the phenomenon of boundaries as internal processes. An environmental historian negotiates constantly the boundaries of its own field and others, but also the boundaries between humans and non­humans, environment and technology, bodily and external, local and global. None of these boundaries are fixed, but constantly redrawn and challenged. Boundary zones mediate the contacts with other areas and act as filters for innovation, where difference and similarity need to be constantly negotiated and enacted.

Highly relevant for environmental history are ecological boundaries that create various possibilities and affordances by their sheer existence but that can in their turn be re­drawn by human activities; or geographical boundaries that create different contact zones, facilitate or complicate communication and migration of humans and non­human nature. All these different boundaries may coincide with current administrative boundaries but most often they do not and are differently practiced by humans and non­human agents. Often, the boundaries can shift or change their character. A river or sea that once was a connecting path for boats, now means an obstacle for those crossing a terrain in a petrol­-powered vehicle. An infinite object such as our planet can become a bounded and finite phenomenon. An external technical system such as nuclear power plant can become infused with our bodies through radiation.

Our particular interest lies in trans­national co­-formation of environments, ecological niches, cross­overs, hybrids, migration; boundaries as mechanisms for creating new possibilities, opening up new channels for information exchange, facilitating coexistence of different groups, both humans and other species. The concept of boundary is also appropriate for bringing attention to the inherently interdisciplinary nature of environmental history and highlighting methods of participatory and activist research.

Possible topics to be discussed under the umbrella concept of boundaries, include, but are not limited to the following:

• Hybridisation, transcorporeality, post­-humanism and more­-than-­human histories;
• Industrial and agricultural impact on environment and biocultural diversity,
• Envirotechnical systems, nature protection, resource use;
• Environmental justice, colonialism and global environments, migration, conflicts, environmental legacies of wars, health and disease;
• Planetary boundaries and the Anthropocene, temporal and spatial boundaries in historical climate and climate change, ecosystem boundaries;
• Inter-­ and trans­disciplinary, transnational and cross­-regional environmental histories of Europe, environmental humanities and popular culture;
• Boundaries in time: new chronologies in environmental history;
• Crossing boundaries in/of scientific knowledge: pedagogical challenges of teaching environmental history.

The conference also accepts papers on environmental history that do not fall under the umbrella topic of boundaries.

Diversity policy:

The conference covers all periods and all areas of the globe and is open to scholars from all disciplines and backgrounds. In order to strengthen diversity at the conference, we are giving preference to panels where the presenters come from different regions within or beyond Europe, different institutions or different disciplines. We also encourage the presenting teams to observe gender and age balance and to use emergent scholars as session chairs, in order to provide better visibility to younger generations of historians. Graduate students will be offered a special reduced fee.

To diversify the forms of presentation, we encourage submission in formats that introduce a clash of perspectives, interpretations, or methodologies. For example,

• Formats permitting a joint discussion of a single theme or book as a part of the panel session.
• Formats that allow sharply focused commentary from the audience early on.
• Formats in which a single, major paper, primary source material, film, or book is the subject of attention and on which other papers and all the commentary are focused.
• Panels in which participants present one another’s work rather than their own.
• Roundtables that examine teaching in the field or that explore innovative approaches to teaching a particular subject.

Each person can be a primary presenter in only one panel, roundtable, or other session proposal, but can also serve as a chair or commentator in a second session proposal. The conference language is English; no submissions in other languages will be accepted. All proposals will be reviewed by the ESEH Program Committee.

All proposals should be submitted through our online submission system (see links under each submittal type below). The deadline for submittals is October 31, 2018.

Questions about proposals should be directed to the Head of the Programme Committee, Prof. Finn Arne Jørgensen, University of Stavanger, through the email conference@eseh.org.

For more information about the conference and the venue, visit https://www.tlu.ee/eseh2019

Download a copy of the ESEH 2019 CFP as a pdf file.

Proposals will be accepted in the following categories:

1. Sessions

Sessions are 3 papers of 20 minutes each or 4 papers of 15 minutes each. Other formats (debate panels, roundtables) should be submitted under the Roundtable or Experimental session categories. Session proposals will include a session title and session abstract of 200-300 words; list of contributors and a chair; and individual paper titles and abstracts of 200-300 words each. Session proposal may also include a commentator/discussant in place of the fourth paper. Nevertheless, all sessions should include sufficient time for general discussion.

Submit a session proposal

2. Individual papers

Contributors may also submit individual papers of max. 20 minutes, which will be combined into sessions of three to four papers in case of acceptance. However, scholars should take note that the scientific committee has a certain preference for session submissions, and that it cannot guarantee thematic coherence for the resulting sessions. Paper proposals are to consist of an abstract of 200-300 words.

Submit an individual paper proposal

3. Roundtables

Scholars can also propose 90-minute roundtables, which differ in form and goal from regular paper sessions. Roundtables are panels ranging from 3-6 people and a chair who speak to a common question or theme. Successful roundtables involve interaction between the panelists, the active involvement of the chair in shaping the conversation, and ample time for the audience to interact with the panel and pose questions.

Submit a roundtable proposal

4. Posters

Poster proposals will include an abstract of 200-300 words. Poster session will have a designated area for display, but a special plenary session will held for all authors of posters to present their research in 2 minutes time per poster. The Environment & History Poster Prize sponsored by The White Horse Press is awarded to the best poster (€100 award) and the 2nd place poster (€50 award).

Submit a poster proposal

5. Non-conventional sessions

We welcome proposals for non-conventional sessions through which proponents wish to experiment with creative formats, such as hands-on workshops, tool demonstrations, and open discussion forums. To submit a proposal for a special session, please provide a 300-400 word abstract, describing in details the activity. Please include in the proposal any special logistical request you might need.

Submit a non-conventional/special session

REPORT(H)A –  The Portuguese Network of Environmental History invites panels, papers, and posters submission for its 3rd meeting on “Dynamics and Resilience in Socio-Environmental Systems”.

Deadline for submission November 15, 2018.

More details on the website of REPORT(H)A: https://encontroreportha2019.weebly.com/chamada-de-trabalhos.html

The  University of Freiburg invites applications for a Full Professorship for Economic, Social and Environmental History:

 

The European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) invites expressions of interest from scholars who would like to host the biennial conference of the Society in 2021. The deadline for submission is January 31, 2019. Below the text of the call with further details:

Announcing one-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Environmental Humanities at the University of Texas at Arlington (U.S.) sponsored by The Seed Box, hosted by Linköping University (Sweden) and, funded by the Swedish grant agencies Mistra and Formas. The fellowship will be part of the The SeedBox’s Research Cluster, “Deep Time, Deep Earth, Deep Waters,” https://theseedbox.se/research-clusters/deep-time-deep-earth-deep-waters/

Deep Time, Deep Earth, Deep Waters – The Seed Boxtheseedbox.se Our current environmental challenges are deeply impacted by a common view of natural resources as unlimited, prioritized for human use, and thoroughly instrumentalized.

Preference will be given to transdisciplinary proposals focusing on the blue (aquatic) humanities, with topics concerning oceans, rivers, or other bodies of water. The fellowship will be funded at $60,000 USD, with benefits and a generous research and travel budget. The postdoc fellow will be expected to present one public talk and one workshop and participate in a monthly research cluster on the environmental humanities. The fellowship runs from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2019. This is an international postdoctoral fellowship—anyone may apply. Completion of PHD must be between Jan. 2016-July 2018. Please send one email with the following application materials: a c.v., a five-page research proposal including a list of deliverables, a 20-30 page writing sample, and a letter, by April 15^th 2018, to both Stacy Alaimo, alaimo@uta.edu and Chris Morris, morris@uta.edu.  Please have two confidential letters of recommendation emailed directly to Alaimo and Morris.

The University of Texas at Arlington is located between Dallas and Ft. Worth, in a culturally diverse region, with many museums, music venues, and restaurants.  The state of Texas has extraordinary natural areas such as Big Bend National Park, the Hill Country around Austin, and the Gulf Coast.  UTA is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action institution. Minorities, women, veterans and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Additionally, the University prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation. A criminal background check will be conducted on finalists. UTA is a tobacco free campus.

The Board of the European Society for Environmental History is seeking applications by doctoral student and post-doctoral researchers to join ESEH’s Next Generation Action Team 2018-2019 (NEXTGATe).

NEXTGATe’s mission is to strengthen the presence and influence of next generation scholars on the environmental history field in Europe and beyond. Successful applicants will collaborate with ESEH’s Next Generation Coordinator, Viktor Pál (University of Helsinki) and jointly plan pre-conference and on-site activities primarily for doctoral and post-doc researchers at the ESEH 2019 biennial conference in Tallinn, Estonia. Activities will include social media campaigns, virtual and live events, outreach activities, as well as career planning and publishing industry related events.

Depending on the strength of applications, three to five NEXTGATe members will be selected by the selection committee. Successful candidates who fill their tenure with NEXTGATe will be offered personalized travel grants to participate in the ESEH 2019 Conference in Tallinn.

To apply, please send the following documents to viktor(dot)paal(at)gmail(dot)com.

1) CV and possible list of publications
2) A short text describing he goals, that you think NEXTGATe should tackle in 2018-2019 and how you could contribute to these activities.

Deadline for applications is 31 March, 2018

Questions regarding the application should be sent to viktor(dot)paal(at)gmail(dot)com

Call for papers for an edited volume on Politics of Urban Knowledge: Toward an Epistemic History of the City.
Deadline April 15, 2018.

The International Consortium of Environmental History Organizations (ICEHO) invites proposals for the 3rd World Congress of Environmental History, to be held in 22-26 July 2019 in Florianópolis, Brasil.

 

Convergences: The Global South and the Global North in the Era of Great Acceleration
Host: The Federal University of Santa Catarina (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC)

The 3rd World Congress of Environmental History invites scholars from different disciplines to situate environmental history in a planetary perspective. The categories “Global South” and “Global North” are historically-charged, created in the 20th century. They point to the diversity and the inequality of past and present human societies, and how they have transformed their landscapes, exploited natural resources, and connected with each other. The challenges posed by these connections and the dynamics of human and non-human communities have gained urgency in what has been called the Era of Great Acceleration. From their historical studies of rivers, cities, mountains, forests and plantations, to world transmigration narratives for plants, animals, diseases, people and commodities, historians and other environmental humanities scholars add to the debate on how to address the environmental challenges of the 21st century. The program committee seeks to further discussions that cross disciplinary or conceptual divides in new ways. We especially invite proposals that span gender, generational, and geographic differences among presenters as well as topics.

 

Submission Guidelines

The program committee invites panel, roundtable, individual paper, and poster proposals for the congress. We prefer to receive complete session proposals but will endeavor to construct sessions from proposals for individual presentations. Sessions will be scheduled for 1.5 hours. No single presentation should exceed 15 minutes, and each roundtable presentation should be significantly shorter than that, as roundtables are designed to maximize discussion among the speakers and with the audience. Commentators are allowed but not required.

The program committee encourages non-conventional sessions that experiment with creative formats, such as hands-on workshops, tool demonstrations, and open discussion forums. To submit a proposal for an experimental session, please provide a 300-word abstract describing the activity.

To maximize participation, we encourage session proposals with more participants giving shorter presentations (e.g., four presenters at 12 minutes each). Please note that individuals can be a primary presenter in only one panel, roundtable, or other session proposal, but can also serve as chair or commentator in a second session proposal.

A limited number of travel bursaries will be available for students and junior scholars.

To submit a proposal, see:
https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/iceho/iceho19/

Deadline for submissions: 10 September 2018 All presenters and other participants are expected to register for the annual meeting. Membership in   ICEHO is not required. If you have any questions, please contact: wceh2019@gmail.com  Join us in beautiful Florianópolis!