Call for Papers

Young Scholars Forum
German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C.

Environment, Culture, Politics: Transatlantic Perspectives

May 27-30, 2004

Conveners:

Frank Zelko (German Historical Institute, Washington D.C.)
Charles Closmann (German Historical Institute, Washington D.C.)

The German Historical Institute is pleased to announce the 2004 session of the annual Young Scholars Forum. The focus of the 2004 Forum is Environmental History.

The forum is designed to bring together Ph.D. candidates and recent Ph.D.s, particularly from Germany, but also from other European countries and the United States, for a weekend of critical debate. The forum will take place from May 27-30, 2004, at the German Historical Institute in Washington. It will offer young scholars the opportunity to present their work to their peers and to distinguished scholars from both sides of the Atlantic. Applicants should be working in the field of environmental history from 1800 to the present. The conference will focus in particular on the United States and Europe (with a special emphasis on Germany). Above and beyond that, we encourage submissions from scholars working on international or comparative topics dealing with other nations and regions. The forum will be conducted in English and will focus on the following themes:

1. The environmental impact of industrialization since 1800: including topics such as pollution, landscape changes, the impact of science and technology, and human health.
2. The environmental impact of agriculture: including deforestation, pollution, land degradation, organic and sustainable agriculture.
3. Changing ideas about nature: intellectual and cultural history. Topics can be broad, or more specific: e.g., they may deal with a particular country or continent, or a particular phenomenon (such as changing attitudes toward whales or wilderness). The impact of intellectual trends such as post-modernism, neo-Marxism, and paradigm shifts in ecology.
4. Environmentalism: The various movements that have sprung up around the world over the past century to try to protect the environment (may also include the backlash against them). Papers can also focus on specific groups, government policy, nations, or international developments.

Participants will have to submit a paper of twenty typewritten pages in length by April 15, 2004. In order to promote a lively exchange of ideas, papers will be distributed in advance: instead of a conventional presentation of one’s own work, each participant will comment briefly on a colleague’s paper. There is a possibility that the papers will be published in a collected volume.

A complete application will include the following materials:

1. A curriculum vitae
2. A brief summary of the paper (not to exceed two pages, double-spaced)
3. A formal letter of recommendation

Applications should be sent to the Institute by January 10, 2004. They should be posted or emailed to the address below.

Applicants will be notified if their papers have been accepted by February 15, 2004. The German Historical Institute will provide a lump sum to cover travel and accommodation expenses for all participants.

For more information, contact Frank Zelko at the German Historical Institute:
Ph. 202-387-3355
Email: zelko@ghi-dc.org