Short Abstract:

This roundtable brings together a panel of scholars experienced in developing transdisciplinary approaches and interested in sharing and discussing experiences of creative collaborative research

Long Abstract:

Environmental historians are accustomed to engaging and sometimes collaborating with researchers across multiple disciplines who study ecological processes and social-environmental dynamics. The notion of historians working alone in archives and then sole-authoring narrative books by themselves is rapidly eroding, or at least broadening considering not only the diversity of sources environmental historians can use but also due to the urgency of environmental problems, from climate change to species extinctions. In this roundtable, we will discuss both how to broaden/ expand/ adjust the research methods that environmental historians use in order to better collaborate and reach broader audiences across multiple disciplines, and how to communicate historical methods differently so that they can be understood outside our discipline, which can help not only cross-disciplinary collaboration and conversations, but also making history relevant for current environmental conversations and policymaking. Going beyond history, working with different knowledge and practices, engaging with multiple generations and communities, embracing creative thinking, is a transformative process for those who embark on it, full of pitfalls, but also open to enlightening opportunities and inspiring learning.

This session will take the form of a roundtable discussion between Adrian Howkins, Joana Gaspar de Freitas and Andy Kirk who will offer case study-based comments, and then open the floor to a dialogue with the audience for an exchange of experiences, doubts and suggestions.