Environmental History and Identity

The Phd School at the Faculty of Humanities
Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
University of Copenhagen

https://ccrs.ku.dk/phd/phdcoursesccrs/

PhD Course
Environmental History and Identity
6-7 May 2014

Environmental dimensions of cultural beliefs and practices have become an important topic of research and inquiry over the past few decades, and have influenced our understanding of identity and society around the world. This has resulted in a growing appreciation that identity construction and behaviour is situated in the surrounding landscape, and much of this is linked to the development of Environmental History.

Arising as a subfield within historical studies in the 1960s and as part of larger global social movements that opened the investigation of a variety of social and cultural fields, Environmental History is the study of how humans have interacted with and understood their environment, and conversely how the environment has influenced humans. Research and theory generated from inter- and cross-disciplinary dialogues among historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, philosophers, geographers, political scientists and natural scientists has broadened our understanding of history and identity so that focus on the environment is now an essential component of social cultural theory to explain present day identity constructions as well as to explain the world that we are producing. Cutting edge research in a variety of fields, including food, imperialism, technology, urban and climate change studies is now foregrounding history and the environment and not simply relegating it to background information to understand the construction of identity.
This Ph.D. workshop is open for all those who are interested in looking at different cultural groups, and situating them within their surrounding landscape, and to rethink and reconceptualise the study of environment and identity. Special focus will be placed on spatial issues – both tangible (e.g., the natural physical landscape, foodscapes etc.) and intangible (e.g., media-, sound-, ideoscapes etc.) – as well as the role that flora and fauna have played in the development of societies.

Time schedule:

Tuesday, 6 May 2014 – First seminar day (participation obligatory) (public event)
14.00 – 15.30 hrs Keynote address by Dr. Timothy Barnard commented by Prof. Poul Holm and Q&A
15.30 – 16.00 hrs Coffee break
16.00 – 17.30 hrs Keynote by Prof. Poul Holm commented by Dr. Barnard and Q&A
18.30 – 0.00 hrs Dinner & drinks

Wednesday, 7 May 2014 – Second seminar day by Dr. Timothy Barnard (participation obligatory) (closed-door event for registered participants)
10.00 – 12.00 hrs Discussion of mandatory readings
12.00 – 13.30 hrs Lunch break
13.30 – 15.30 hrs Seminar with presentation by participating PhD students (first part)
15.30 – 16.00 hrs Coffee break
16.00 – 17.30 hrs Seminar with presentation by participating PhD students (second part)
18.30 – 0.00 hrs Dinner & drinks

Key-note Speakers:

• Dr. Timothy P. Barnard, Associate Professor, Department of History, National University of Singapore 
• Prof. Poul Holm, Trinity Long Room Hub Professor of Humanities at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Organizers:

• Dr. Cynthia Chou, Associate Professor MSK, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen
• Mark Philip Stadler, MA, MSc - PhD Fellow of Indonesian Studies at the Asian Dynamics Initiative (ADI), Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS)

Participants: The course is free of charge. Participants will be selected on the basis of their application file and field of research. The selected participants are asked to organize travel and accommodation at their own expense.

Venue: Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen

Room numbers:

• 6 May – 10.4.05, KUA 2, Karen Blixens Vej 4, 2300 Copenhagen S
• 7 May – 27.0.47 (to be confirmed), KUA 1, Karen Blixens Vej 4, 2300 Copenhagen S

Requirements & ECTS:

Mandatory readings and active participation in the seminar discussions are the core requirements. By giving a presentation relating their own PhD project to the topic of the seminar, participants can be awarded a higher number of ECTS: 3.0 ECTS for full participation with presentation, 1.5 ECTS for full participation without presentation. Added optional bonus: participants can submit a chapter of their work or their paper and receive written commentary by Dr. Timothy Barnard.

Application procedure & deadline for submission:
Please send a letter of motivation (1 page), CV (1 page) and PhD abstract (1 pages) to annekb@hum.ku.dk and cynchou@hum.ku.dk by 11 April 2014.

For further information: please contact the organizers:
Dr. Cynthia Chou
Associate Professor MSK at Copenhagen University
E-mail: cynchou@hum.ku.dk
Phone: +45 23 98 58 95

Mark Philip Stadler, MA, MSc
PhD Fellow at Copenhagen University
E-mail: vgb351@hum.ku.dk
Phone +45 53 33 38 01