Environments, Resources, and Power in German Central Europe
GSA seminar Proposal
GSA Annual Conference in Portland, OR, 3-6 October 2019
Conveners:
Victoria Harms (Johns Hopkins University)
Adrian Mitter (Herder Institute, Marburg/ University of Toronto)
This GSA seminar seeks to explore the relationship between the environment and social, political and economic developments from the mid-19thcentury to 1945. Geographically focusing on the region between the Baltic and the Adriatic Seas, between the Rhineland and Volhynia, we seek answers to questions such as: How did the natural landscape factor into the construction of collective identities? How did the appropriation of the environment elicit private entrepreneurship and new policies? When, where and why did the exploitation of natural resources result in imperial, state or commercial interventions in local and regional affairs? How did “nature”, its exploration and exploitation advance or inhibit the building of infrastructure, institutions, and nation-states?
Apart from fostering scholarly exchange on the above issues, the goal of the seminar is to develop an online platform for teaching and research materials on environmental history in Central Europe. This collection will provide resources for syllabi such as readings, links to primary and secondary sources, as well as lists of archives, museums, and online collections on that topic.
Seminar format:
Prior to the seminar, we will circulate relevant scholarly literature. During the seminar, participants will have the opportunity to present their current research projects in environmental history. In small groups, participants will discuss syllabi, research and teaching experiences and develop modules for the joint online resource.
VICTORIA HARMS 