“SUDDEN SHIFTS: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF RAPID ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE”

A Northeast Regional Conference http://www.yale.edu/environmentalhistory/programs/conference.html

Luce Hall Auditorium Yale University, April 20, 2013 New Haven, Connecticut

OVERVIEW: Yale University’s working group on global environmental history invites paper proposals from graduate students at northeastern universities for a one-day conference titled “Sudden Shifts: Causes and Consequences of Rapid Environmental Change.”

Today, climate change dominates the headlines and scientists warn of the possibility of Earth reaching a catastrophic tipping point. At the same time, societies around the world must navigate a variety of challenges, from sudden “natural” disasters to economic, social, political, and even intellectual events that trigger rapid environmental change. While our concerns about human-caused climate change may be relatively new, scholars have long identified historical pivot points whose causes or effects are environmental. This conference seeks to explore these moments of change — sudden shifts — as we discuss current scholarship in environmental history.

Conference paper topics might address: the relative roles of nature and society in “natural disasters”; cultural alterations or adaptations to rapid environmental change; the role of the state and local communities in addressing sudden environmental shifts; the success or failure of projects borne out of rapid change; transnational dimensions of environmental change such as new commodity flows, biological movements, emergence of ideas, and migrations of humans and animals; shifting notions of nature and causation; and historical watersheds of sudden change and environmental consciousness. Papers focused on causes of environmental change might discuss rapid migration and colonization, the introduction of new forms of agriculture and land use, new technologies, new transportation routes and methods, publication of influential books, and other ways in which human action has led to sudden environmental change. Papers emphasizing water-related change might consider droughts, floods, freezes, chemical additions, or the creation of new waterways.

We especially welcome abstracts that address environmental history in its broadest sense, whether dealing with political economy, society and culture, intellectual debates, science and technology, microorganisms and disease, or policy and planning. Conference organizers are particularly interested in the inclusion of comparative and transnational perspectives on environmental history.

Three moderated panel sessions will explore the theme of sudden shifts. Presentations will be approximately 15 minutes, based on papers circulated in advance to panel commentators and attendees. A faculty panel will conclude the day.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: Abstract submissions should be in the form of a SINGLE document in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format, and must include the following: (1) your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information; (2) a 250-word abstract; (3) a one-page C.V. Submissions must be emailed to environmentalhistory@yale.edu by December 1, 2012. Please include your name and paper title in the title of your submission.

Accepted presenters will be notified by December 20, 2012, and asked to submit a full version of their paper for circulation to conference attendees and commentators by March 25, 2013.

** Submissions are invited from graduate students enrolled in doctoral programs in New England, New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. **

Please contact environmentalhistory@yale.edu with any questions. For more information, visit: http://www.yale.edu/environmentalhistory. To learn about our prior conferences in April 2010 (“Social Conflict and Environmental Change”), April 2011 (“Creating Healthy Landscapes”), or April 2012 (“Two Kingdoms”) please visit: http://www.yale.edu/environmentalhistory/programs/conference.html