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Paper short abstract:

The present paper proposes to examine Mesopotamian therapeutic texts from the II and I millennia BC., highlighting the role of aquatic agents within the healing practices of ancient Mesopotamia.

Paper long abstract:

The ancient Mesopotamian corpora regarding healing practices clearly show how fauna, flora, and other natural elements were closely examined, transformed, and exploited, becoming materia magica and materia medica (i.e., ingredients required for remedy preparation). Naturally, not only the specialists who developed them but also the patients who received them became deeply dependent on these elements. Given the rich aquatic environment that characterized the Mesopotamian territory, the magical-medical repertoire comprised diverse references to aquatic elements. In this regard, we have been trying to intertwine the postulates of History of Religions and Environmental History to be applied to the study of ancient Mesopotamian healing practices. As such, with this paper we aim to present some considerations on the referred dependency, particularly focusing on aquatic elements (e.g., crabs, turtles) changing the traditional analytical focus which highlights the human specialists/patient’s relationship, to the human/non-human one.

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Paper short abstract:

Changing views of environmental & business historians on corporate history are revealed by a retrospective examination of TIMBER AND MEN focusing on (1) Entrepreneurship; (2) Innovation; (3) Globalization; (4) Business & the Environment; (5) The Role of Governments; (6) Business & Democracy.

Paper long abstract:

TIMBER AND MEN -- the 700 page history of the Weyerhaeuser group authored in 1963 by Hidy, Hill, Nevins -- deals substantively with the six subject areas recommended in 2011 by leading business historians: Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Globalization, Business & the Environment; the Role of Government; Business & Democracy. What changing views of environmental & business historians on corporate history are revealed by analyzing not only the book's conclusions, but also the research methods & practices of key participants. Earlier, F. K. Weyerhaeuser, who kept close tabs on the research project funded by his firm under a contract with Columbia University, had declared: We let people rave about the wicked Weyerhaeuser corporation . . . [and] it's not true . . . . If I ever get to have any power in business you bet I'm not going to let anyone talk that way about me or my Co. without calling for a showdown." Should TIMBER AND MEN be categorized merely as a sophisticated stockpile of PR ammunition for F.K.'s showdown -- even though contemporary scholarly reviews described TIMBER AND MEN as "a magnum opus" resulting from a massive effort let by Pulitzer winner Allan Nevins? Yet Greta Thunberg suggests a "cultural turn" which can be reflected in a historiographical assessment. Can Weyerhaeuser's first century of corporate behavior within the capitalist economic order be re-evaluated in keeping with Greta's characterization of the pursuit of economic progress as a destructive goal -- which thus might lead to a discussion of degrowth strategies?

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Paper short abstract:

Present-day Ethiopian Afromontane forests are severely fragmented and suffer from soil erosion, droughts, and biodiversity loss. Aiming to understand the origin of this issue, this research examines fire history from before, during, and after the ancient Aksumite Empire settled the area.

Paper long abstract:

Ethiopian Afromontane forests have become increasingly fragmented over the centuries from human-driven deforestation. Consequently, these biodiverse ecosystems have experienced environmental degradation from soil erosion, prolonged droughts, and biodiversity loss (Teketay et al., 2010). The Tigray Plateau was once home to the Aksumite Empire, an ancient civilization that rose and fell between c. 50 BCE and 700 CE (Ruiz-Giralt et al., 2021). A favorable climate and advanced agricultural systems allowed for substantial food storage to support the Aksumite’s growing population (Connah, 2004). While the Aksum Kingdom experienced several prosperous centuries, the civilization rapidly and mysteriously fell around 700 CE. One of the leading hypotheses posits that overexploitation of the land led to crop failures and a downfall of agricultural productivity (Connah, 2004).

Aiming to expand on this original hypothesis, this research explores paleoecological evidence of deforestation of Afromontane through reconstructing fire regimes from before the rise of the Aksumite Empire and comparing those data to several centuries of fire history during their rise, and after their collapse. The method of research includes charcoal analysis of a sediment core, KV-II, collected from Adigrat, Ethiopia in 2019. Results suggest fires occurred on average once every ~10 years before the arrival of the Aksumite people and fell to once every ~50 years during the peak of the empire. The significant decrease in fire frequency during Aksumite times suggests an overall reduction in available biomass, including increased consumption of wood fuel and expansion of croplands, likely contributing to accelerated deforestation as the Aksumite Empire expanded.

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Paper short abstract:

The screen industry holds immense power to combat climate change globally. While India reigns as the film production giant, its environmental impact remains overlooked. This paper assesses the sustainability of India's screen industry and its potential in driving a greener future.

Paper long abstract:

Climate change and environmental sustainability are pressing global issues today, and the screen industries have a significant role to play in raising awareness and promoting sustainable practices through their storytelling (Mahajan, S. & Suri, S., 2023).

India has a longstanding reputation for its acclaimed screen industry and in particular, continues to be by far the world’s largest producer of films (S.G. Dastidar & C. Elliot, 2019). But we tend to forget about what happens behind the scenes to create the digital magic and why one was filming in the first place. The production of screen sets has been leading to a significant carbon footprint, making the industry one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions that is the major cause of climate change (Mahajan, S. & Suri, S., 2023).

However, recent efforts have been made to promote sustainable production and consumption in the screen industries, through initiatives such as carbon footprint calculators and sustainable production guidelines. This paper provides a sustainability assessment of the screen industries in India, examining the challenges and opportunities associated with promoting sustainable practices, as well as the role of the creative sector in raising environmental awareness and promoting social change. Drawing on case studies from the Indian film industry, the paper demonstrates the potential for the screen industries to drive positive change towards a more sustainable future.

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Paper short abstract:

Indigenous youth-led participatory film project which investigates how efforts to revitalize the land and remove invasive plants are interconnected with the work of restoring traditional foodways and cultural relationships to the land.

Paper long abstract:

Access to the land is an essential part of the health and food sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. Colonization sought to disconnect Indigenous peoples from their ancestral territories and food systems, by placing them on reserves, disrupting the transmission of knowledge between Elders and youth, and prohibiting traditional agroecological practices. Meanwhile, settlers from Europe were creating ‘Europeanized’ landscapes, by introducing plants from their homelands, which spread and colonized new ecosystems, making it increasingly difficult for native plants to survive. In the present day, there are numerous communities working to remove invasive plants and restore traditional foodways, effectively revitalizing the land and their cultural relationships to it. On Vancouver Island, invasive species have spread rapidly and are outcompeting native plants, with negative consequences for the health and food sovereignty of local Indigenous people. This research empowered youth from Sc’ianew Nation, an Indigenous community in Canada, by engaging them in the creation of a participatory short film, which investigated the impacts land revitalization projects are having for their community. Youth were trained in filmmaking techniques, and they interviewed Elders and Knowledge Keepers. The study found that land revitalization work is connecting people on-reserve, it is strengthening partnerships with likeminded organizations off-reserve, and it is creating space for native plants, including medicinal and food plants to flourish, which also benefits non-human kin. This study contributes to a growing body of scholarship which uses participatory and visual methods to make knowledge more accessible and useful to research communities.

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Paper short abstract:

The salutary climate of the lower Rio Grande Valley, a river delta divided by the US-Mexico border, led to two transformations in the twentieth century. Irrigation canals transformed the region into an agricultural center and also attracted people fleeing northern winters, known as “winter Texans.”

Paper long abstract:

Turn-of-the-century boosters touted South Texas as a “Magic Valley.” They lied, as the area is a river delta that extends into Mexico rather than a valley. Access to the Rio Grande River allowed local developers to install irrigation canals. Migratory workers, many who crossed the border from Mexico, returned home during the winter months. The Valley’s moderate climate, access to abundant water, and cheap labor, transformed the region into a major agricultural growing center for produce and citrus crops. The temperate climate also increasingly attracted people fleeing harsh northern winters – from as far away as Canada – known as “winter Texans.” These two transformations, and the two migratory groups connected to them, led inequities in income, which in turn led to inequities in health care.

Charting winter temperatures, irrigation canals, produce crops and citrus groves, and the appearance of trailer courts allow for an examination of the Magic Valley over the long-twentieth century. The sources used to plot these environmental and economic transformations include temperature and growing data, irrigation canals maps, farm fields and citrus groves business records, and locating the growing numbers of spaces dedicated to housing winter Texans. Representing these changes visually shows the ways the Magic Valley was transformed.

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Paper short abstract:

The poster offers insights into the entanglement between pigeons and human beings from an anthropological perspective and invites interdisciplinary reflections on the blurring line between nature and culture.

Paper long abstract:

Starting with a historical review of pigeon racing as a folk sport in late-eighteenth-century Belgium, the poster draws attention to the entanglement between pigeons and human beings from an anthropological perspective. Crafted by the arts of noticing, anthropology is distinguished by its way of working: thinking and learning through correspondence with other lives, not only of human beings but also of non-human beings. Aligned with this methodology, my anthropological study with Belgian pigeon fanciers, and consequently with pigeons, offers insights into the stories they tell about nature and culture. An ethnographic journey into the industry of pigeon racing, the study reveals the discourse on the particularly prized racing pigeon that prevailed in the field, which is fundamentally established on the anthropocentric separation between racing pigeons and feral pigeons, between culture and nature. While naming and the records of bloodlines mark every single racing pigeon out as a proper agent in the accounts of history, feral pigeons are grasped in the general singular, leaving no remarkable traces. However, a case of a boundary-crossing pigeon, a racing pigeon on the run interacting with feral pigeons on the street, may challenge received opinion and invite interdisciplinary reflections on the blurring line between nature and culture.

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Paper short abstract:

There are fascination and complexity surrounding the evolution of merpeople in ancient China, throughout which the transformation of merpeople has progressed from simplistic duality to multifaceted diversity. The history of the merpeople reflects the relationship between human and nature.

Paper long abstract:

There are fascination and complexity surrounding the evolution of merpeople culture in ancient China, throughout which the transformation of merpeople has progressed from the state of simplistic duality to that of multifaceted diversity. The journey began with merpeople patterns on painted Neolithic-era pottery, which paved the way for the history merpeople. In the pre-Qin period, The Classic of Mountains and Seas depicted a plethora of merpeople’s images, each unique in name, appearance, and supernatural abilities. The merpeople culture encapsulates humans’ desire to resurrect after death as mortals, communication between heaven and earth, and a body devoid of ailments. The seamless integration of the human and piscine elements poignantly illustrates the unity and harmony between ancient people and nature. The Wei and Jin dynasties further highlighted this harmonious relationship, during which images of merpeople weaving and shedding tears were drawn as gestures of gratitude towards humans. The Tang and Song dynasties saw the merpeople evolve into enticing and beautiful female sea creatures that mingled with humans — a transformation that bears significant similarities to the seductive figures of sirens found in Western medieval churches. This evolution of merpeople’s image in the time reflects the human aspiration for a close bond with nature. The Ming and Qing dynasties saw a return to the benevolent and virtuous images of merpeople, juxtaposed with the enticing and calamitous sea women brimming with malevolence. The portrayal of these contrasting images mirrors the ambivalence of humankind towards nature, embodying both the fear towards and longing for nature.

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Paper short abstract:

U.S. encroachment into Indigenous national territories in the Upper Mississippi and Headwaters region began at the water in the early nineteenth century. Rather than land hunger, the U.S. first sought to implement an imperial mission to control the riverine and marshland flows of goods and peoples.

Paper long abstract:

In the early nineteenth century, the Upper Mississippi and Headwaters were defined by political and hydraulic fluidity. Though the watershed was claimed by the United States, the region was staunchly controlled by several Indigenous nations and polities, such as the Dakota, Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk, and Menominee peoples, with mercantile support from the British Empire. Likewise, the region was also defined by a certain degree of aqueous ambiguity. During seasonal floods, the edges in a watershed blurred and overlapped, thus facilitating or hindering travel as portages became lakes and wetlands. By reviewing four military-scientific expeditions commissioned on behalf of the United States, this poster offers two arguments. First, the poster affirms the prior work in water history by demonstrating how water is an ever-changing and powerful force in history. Rivers are not a constant flow of water, but shift from flow, to lake, to wetland, and back again. Moreover, seasonal cycles, as with the Upper Mississippi’s high, low, and frozen waters, circumscribed historic human action. In other words, Euro-Americans were confronted with an aqueous landscape on the Upper Mississippi that challenged U.S. encroachment and facilitated Indigenous sovereignty, subsistence, and movement. The poster's second argument is that U.S. expansionism adapted to the Upper Mississippi and Headwaters, prioritizing imperium over the flows of peoples and goods on the water as a primary goal for the region at first. Though Euro-Americans still retained land dispossession as a broader goal, U.S. encroachment began at the water.

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Paper short abstract:

At the turn of the twentieth century, many “young” nations, such as the United States and Finland, placed special emphasis on pristine landscapes and the image of the wilderness hunter when developing ideas about the national character. These in turn were deeply related to ideals of manliness.

Paper long abstract:

My poster aims to provide novel insights to the historical relationship between the concept of wilderness and the birth of conservation movements in North America and northern Europe. Juxtaposing turn of the twentieth century North American and Nordic ideas and images about nature, landscape, wilderness, and masculinity can shed new light on the notions of nationalism and conservation between the two regions.

The history of hunting for sport provides an important, but in many ways neglected viewpoint to the core of national cultures and history of class relations. In the feudal societies of Western and Central Europe, hunting rights were gradually severed from land ownership. Typically, only the royalty and nobility were allowed to hunt big game, and smaller landowners and peasants were forced to become assistants in the hunt, which turned into an elaborate display of aristocratic power. The Nordic experience proves quite different from the rest of Europe. The great national importance attributed to wild landscapes, hunters, and pioneer settlers in both North America and the Nordic countries seems to share common roots, especially when contrasted with the general European experience.

By the turn of the twentieth century, many North Americans and Nordics of the upper and educated classes found recreational hunting and fishing as a new pastime. Big game hunters, sport fishermen, and their organizations were consequently in the forefront of conservation efforts for their game and its natural environment. Somewhat ironically, people fascinated by killing individual animals could ensure their survival as a species.

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Paper short abstract:

In the Mediterranean biome of Israel, we undertook landscape surveys around depopulated Palestinian villages from pre-1948, to document abandoned orchards and trees planted by the Palestinian farmers. We recorded arboreal biodiversity and spatial distribution as a step towards their protection.

Paper long abstract:

In Israel, relict cultivated trees still grow in the environs of Palestinian villages that were depopulated following the 1948 war. We undertook surveys of arboreal biodiversity and spatial distribution around several villages in the Mediterranean phytogeographic zone – identifying every tree encountered to species (within a radius of up to 1 km from the village), logging its location with GPS, and measuring trunk circumference to assess its antiquity.

The resulting data were then plotted using GIS on maps of local topography, geology, soil type and cultural remains. Our findings indicate that, although untended, a broad spectrum of species – mainly fruit trees – still thrive in these localities. Except for the olive which is indigenous, most represent introduced species. They provided a source of food, items that could be traded, as well as raw materials for building or ornament manufacture, and for medicinal purposes etc.

Spatial patterning of trees closely followed natural features - topography, soil type, water retention, reflecting the extensive indigenous knowledge of the Palestinian farmers. These trees are now remnants of a defunct anthropogenic ecosystem but still comprise an integral part of the Mediterranean landscape contributing to the biodiversity of the modern landscape. Our surveys have provided baseline information with which to promote the preservation of this important arboreal heritage.

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Paper short abstract:

A lake sediment record from Fish lake provides evidence of multiple disturbances throughout the core and were associated with an increase in aspen pollen. The increase in Populus has implications for contemporary management strategies with an adjacent aspen grove (Pando) today.

Paper long abstract:

Fish Lake’s location in central Utah at 8,848 feet above sea level offers a unique opportunity to study the impact of wildfires on high-elevation forested ecosystems in the Colorado Plateau region. A ~60,000-year lake sediment record from Fish lake provides evidence of multiple disturbances throughout the core (this paper specifically focusing on the largest fire episode found in the Holocene occurring around ~4681 cal yr BP) and were associated with an increase in aspen pollen within the Fish Lake record. The increase in Populus (aspen) pollen has implications for contemporary management practices strategies such as controlled burns with an adjacent aspen grove (Pando) today– which is on the decline, and could be considered as a way to maintain the long-term growth of aspen populations. This research is part of a larger project exploring climate, vegetation, and fire dynamics and aims to provide land managers with insights into the long-term role of disturbances in aspen forests and recommendations for future maintenance.

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Paper short abstract:

The project Animal Biographies aims to create a pan-European network focused on the interactions between humans and other animals in the construction of early modern empires, grounded on 5 pillars of analysis that cross environmental history and humanities, animal history and animal studies.

Paper long abstract:

Rhinoceros and elephants in a parade in Lisbon. Sperm whales hunted off Brazil. South American and African monkeys and parrots in noble houses. Unicorn horns in Natural History cabinets. These are just some of the non-human animals that made up the early modern history of Portugal and its empire. Notwithstanding, these are still largely invisible actors in Portuguese historiography and academia. The project Animal Biographies: A network of agencies in the making of early modern empires aims to create a pan-European network focused on the interactions between humans and other animals in the construction of early modern empires. Falling within the scope of environmental history and humanities, animal history and animal studies, the project echoes today's environmental and societal issues. It is grounded on 5 complementary pillars of analysis:

1) Moving animals - animals as a driving force for human activities, plus issues related to the transport and keeping of animals; 2) Consumption and commerce - extraction, transformation and commercialization of animals and products; 3) Represented and symbolic animals - the cultural role of animals and the various ways in which they have been understood and perceived by humans; 4) Knowledge and Natural History - production of European and non-European discourses on animals (real, mythological, living or preserved); 5) Animals and health - animals and their by-products in the production of medicinal and therapeutic substances and animals as causes of disease.

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Paper short abstract:

Knowing past cultural evolution is important to understanding current and future human and earth system interactions. This poster introduces the UoC’s cross-faculty project HESCOR that proposes to bridge gaps in concepts, methodology and data structure between humanities and science disciplines.

Paper long abstract:

The HESCOR project is a cross-faculty initiative at the University of Cologne, investigating human and earth system interactions from various perspectives in order to model future cultural evolution and thereby initiate a new direction for transdisciplinary environmental research integrating humanities and science disciplines.

Since a profound difficulty is that the governing equations for most human-system processes are unknown, the project has to find innovative inter- and transdisciplinary pathways to meet this challenge. For example, resilience is a measure of human-system stability in response to earth-system forcing, but is affected by a range of human factors such as human learning and cultural transmission. Therefore, one central challenge for the environmental humanities approaches in HESCOR will be the “parameterization of human learning”. In order to contribute to the interdisciplinary team’s efforts to subsequently develop new models for human system resilience and cultural carrying capacity i.e., the potential and role of narrative practices in facilitating cultural learning and enhancing cultural carrying capacity will be assessed from a humanities perspective. The poster will map the overall HESCOR initiative, introduce the challenges and opportunities of the humanities approaches in the project, and outline promising concepts and narrative domains that will be traced.

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Paper short abstract:

This study investigates how toxicity has caused/provoked a reaction in terms of cultural practices. It emphasizes the historical heritage reflected in both musical compositions (from folk to punk-rock and rap) and music videos in which the primary focus is lindane toxicity.

Paper long abstract:

Lindane is currently a toxic waste spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula, as since the 1940s, it kept on moving from manufacturing areas such as O Porriño, Ansio or Sabiñánigo; to places like Amorebieta, Madrid, Barcelona, or Flix where it would be manufactured into its final product; and finally transported as a waste to Viana, Igúzquiza, Cabria, Vitoria-Gasteiz or Borobia.

This study investigates how toxicity has caused/provoked a reaction in terms of cultural practices. It emphasizes the historical heritage reflected in both musical compositions (from folk to punk-rock and rap) and music videos in which the primary focus is lindane toxicity.

The study examines: a) how the historical perspective is incorporated into these cultural practices (slow violence and environmental struggles that have been developing for more than five decades); b) how time is musically represented in the toxic discourse of lindane; and c) how "cognitive justice" and forms of citizen science are conveyed through musical language.

To conclude, the study introduces the concept of "toxic dissonance," understood as a language that makes gradual violence and spectral toxicity evident. The study goes well beyond the discipline of history to incorporate approaches from environmental humanities and intermedial ecocriticism, as well as addressing topics relating to postnormal science.

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Paper short abstract:

How did technological change and continuity both enable and constrain indigenous fishing in Oceania during the nineteenth century? These technological shifts and adaptations in fishing gear reflect wider cultural, political and economic forces active in the region.

Paper long abstract:

During the nineteenth century, native fisheries of Pacific island groups underwent significant change and upheaval as colonial pressures and the expansion of commercial fisheries changed the nature of human marine resource extraction in the region. Trade networks, shifting migration patterns and the exchange of marine knowledge changed the material culture of indigenous fisheries. In many instances, traditional materials for producing hooks, lines and spears were traded for new articles. Cotton webbing for nets replaced coconut fibre, iron replaced wood components on spears and by the close of the nineteenth century 'whaleboats' replaced canoes in some island groups. Labour exchange also brought material change across Pacific native fisheries.

This process of material change was not linear nor universal. Some forms of traditional fishing and equipment manufacture persisted and adapted to the changing Pacific world. Fishing equipment was often produced with an amalgamation of new and traditional materials. Beyond strictly material technology, as in the case of the Kingdom of Hawaii, certain traditional fishing regulation measures (tabu) were formalised in law and thereby adapted to Euro-American practices while retaining, for some time, the fundamentals of the traditional marine management system.

How did technology and knowledge exchange and interchange enable or constrain fishing practices in Oceania throughout the nineteenth century?

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Paper short abstract:

Through archival image research, photography is examined as a collecting science in its own right, akin to natural history collecting. This investigation explores the broader environment as collectible by means of a process of abstraction, afforded by the technology of the digital camera.

Paper long abstract:

Following the tradition of the collecting sciences, photography is examined as an environmental collecting science in its own right, akin to natural history collecting. The democratization of photography has allowed a new form of citizen science to emerge where images, rather than physical specimens, are taken home. This process ensures a continuity to the dissemination of environmental information across space and time, and we currently see an acceleration in image production coinciding with an acceleration of environmental crises. The impacts of the history of photography on environmental perception are examined in this project through archival image research on historically significant examples of environmental photography, as well as analysis of social media images. Whereas collecting is typically considered a physical process with material results, the broader environment itself is considered collectible through a process of abstraction, afforded by the technology of the digital camera. As with the curation of any collection, the presentation and framing are treated as influential to storytelling about the environment. A key focus of this project, combining artistic research with environmental history is: What kind of environmental information has been saved, curated, and transmitted through the processes of photography and how does it contribute to environmental storytelling?

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Paper short abstract:

This essay explores the concept of racial capitalism, tracing its origins from colonialism and the slave trade to its modern manifestation in Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), in which farm workers from South America and the Caribbean are temporarily employed on Canadian farms.

Paper long abstract:

This essay delves into the concept of racial capitalism, examining its historical roots and contemporary implications. Racial capitalism, the intertwining of race and capitalism, emerged from the exploitation and hierarchies present in pre-colonial and feudal societies. The onset of capitalism did not replace these inequalities but rather amplified them, making race inseparable from the capitalist system. Colonialism and the slave trade further deepened racial capitalism, as Europe's imperial conquests drew national divides and economic dependence on colonized countries, leaving a legacy of poverty and racial disparities.

Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) illustrates how racial capitalism persists in modern times. Migrant farmworkers, primarily from the Caribbean, come to Canada for temporary employment, enduring exploitative conditions, isolation, and discrimination. These workers are denied the same rights as Canadian labourers and are unable to apply for permanent residency or citizenship. SAWP allows Canadian agribusinesses to profit from cheap labor, contributing to their dominance in the country's food supply chain. However, the benefits are disproportionately distributed, with managers (predominantly from the Global North) gaining significant profits while farmworkers (largely from the Global South) receive minimal wages. This exploitative program demonstrates the need for a comprehensive understanding of racial capitalism in the context of international development. While development initiatives aim to alleviate global disparities, they often exacerbate racialization and economic dependency. Recognizing the complexities of racial capitalism is crucial for creating a more equitable and just global economy and environment, where historical injustices are not perpetuated but instead addressed and rectified.

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Paper short abstract:

The main goal of TRASH is to understand how marine debris was perceived by the early modern Iberian societies and if an early starting point of water bodies contamination around cities can be identified. Focusing on Atlantic geography, it also relates with issues of blue globalization.

Paper long abstract:

After the 15th century there was a significant increase in nautical activity that changed medieval navigation patterns. The flow of a larger number of ships, people and goods impacted ports and port-cities, adding pressure on maritime environment and shorelines. This growth demanded the attention of local authorities to epidemic and public health problems. In fact, current historiography regarding pollution is linked to public health problems, plagues and diseases caused by dirtiness. TRASH focuses on maritime and aquatic dirtiness as a consequence of increased people movement. Building of embankments on riverside together with manufactures, such as metal foundries, shipyards, tanning, fishing, and other coastal activities brought an increase of toxicity in surroundings, and the rise of urban waste flushing and debris from ships on call created threats to navigation. At the same time, nearshore shipwrecks and consequent debris, animal, and human bodies introduced, for the first time in history, a large quantity of heavy metals and nutrients into the aquatic environment, leading to the eutrophication of waters. Focusing on Atlantic geography, with this project we look for traces of maritime pollution and levels of awareness in European and colonial societies of the 15th-18th centuries. The goal is to understand how marine debris was perceived by local governance and population, what were the impacts, and how problems were managed. TRASH is an interdisciplinary approach between history and archeology methods, through the analysis of wreck remains and environmental samples, while contributing to the discourse of the first/blue globalization.

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Paper short abstract:

In the proposed poster presentation I will explore how Estonian nature protection thought was distrupted during WWII (nature protection law from 1935 was cancelled) and what parts of it were transferred into 1957 soviet Estonian law. The study will follow leading figure of the period: Eerik Kumari.

Paper long abstract:

In the proposed poster presentation I will explore the devekiolent of Estonian nature protection lines of thought in sovier occupation period. Although Republic of Estonia had established its first Nature Protection Law in 1935. it was cancelled after WWII by soviet occupational government. The soviet occupational government of Estonia adopted its own Nature Protection Law only on 1957. The study will follow the ideological views and detailes that were transferred over the distruptive was times to the new regulations.

The poster will focus on one of leading figures of nature protection in that time: Eerik Kumari was active nature protection figure in times of Republic of Estonia as well as after war under occupational government. I will follow the outstanding person and institutionalisation of his toughts in the distruptive times. I will also elaborate on the engagement of wider society into nature protection as well as role of nature education in these times. I will compare processes in Estonia with the processes of same period in other parts of Soviet Union as well in West.

The study is supervised by prof Ulrike Plath and PhD Kadri Tüür in University of Tallinn.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the seemingly "abandoned" company town of Serra do Navio, located in the Brazilian Amazon, exploring its process of creation, abandonment, and its afterlife as heritage, spanning from the 1950s to the present.

Paper long abstract:

This research aims to investigate Serra do Navio, a mining company town located in the Brazilian Amazon (Amapá State). This once-model village acts as a case study of the heritagization processes that abandoned industrial places are submitted worldwide. After being established in the 1950s to accommodate workers employed in the mineral extraction activities in the Amazon, Serra do Navio was progressively abandoned by its residents in the 1990s. In 2010, despite the severe environmental damage caused by mining in the region's landscape and environment, the city was declared heritage by the National Heritage Institute (IPHAN). To interrogate this polemic recognition, overly focused on the modernist architectural legacy, this research plays with the ambiguity of utopia and dystopia. It applies those concepts to discuss the past and present life of the Company Town Serra do Navio, once deemed a utopian modernist city and nowadays struggling to maintain its formerly praised socio-economic legacy. To investigate this, the work combines both archival and ethnographic research to analyse the former mining enterprise of Indústria de Comércio de Minério (ICOMI). This industrial settlement went from being the first mining company town to settle in the Brazilian Amazon region to an afterlife as a national heritage. Through these investigations, this paper illuminates the failure of Brazilian developmentalist projects while it sheds light on the possibilities and challenges brought by deindustrialization beyond the abandonment status.

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Paper short abstract:

Recurring to different early modern written sources we compared the listing of marine species for Portugal mainland and archipelagos. We aim at addressing the pertinence, preferences and motivations of such productions for the developing field of history of ichthyology.

Paper long abstract:

Knowing local marine environments and animals as well as the availability of resources was of utmost relevance for early modern nations, namely for feeding a growing Europe following the so called ‘fish revolution’. Information about halieutic species was obtained by different actors and was kept in different records ranging from letters, written surveys and inquiries, natural history treatises, to travel literature and poetry. These different typologies of sources give indicate patterns of circulation of the information and contacts among different countries in order to access to information both of commercial and natural/scientific character. Addressing these historical sources, in a comparative manner, allows to understand the most valued species, the origin of the catches and the markets they supplied, or even peoples’ preferences and taste. At the same time, historical species’ distribution range, seasonality and the state of marine ecosystems and populations can also be inferred. In this paper we will approach such questions and we will compare data between regions regarding marine species, the knowledge provided about them and its contribution for the construction of the history of ichthyology.

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Paper short abstract:

To know about animals, do we need to know animals? The case of Alice Manfield (1878-1960), who influentially 'befriended' a family of lyrebirds, suggests the ways in which women could found their claims to environmental knowledge on an emotional intimacy with the animals and habitats they studied.

Paper long abstract:

Alice Manfield was a mountain guide, naturalist, and wildlife photographer who lived and worked on Mount Buffalo, Australia, at the beginning of the twentieth century. After befriending a local lyrebird family, 'Guide Alice' was able to take the first known photographs of the notoriously shy male lyrebird, a feat enviously admired by other naturalists who had tried and failed to ‘bag’ similar animals. After publishing the ground-breaking photographs alongside descriptions of the individual animals’ personalities and behaviour, she offered to act as a guide to others who wanted to see this threatened species. I suggest that women naturalists like Alice, who lacked conventional experience in science or natural history, tended to assert their zoological and environmental expertise in terms of a long-term familiarity or emotional friendship with the animals they studied. Drawing primarily on her personal papers and published nature writing, this poster will highlight the ways in which she and other Australian women contributed to new settler affinities with, and understandings of, animals and their habitats. Paying attention to women’s contributions to natural history in the early twentieth century, when access to universities remained rare, promises to expand our understanding of contested of animal ‘knowledge’ and the role of emotions in changing ideas about vulnerable species.

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Paper short abstract:

This poster explores health-related views on urban density in the 1970s, a major change in the previously unquestioned idea on the connection between high density and ill health, and the reasons for this change.

Paper long abstract:

This poster explores health-related views on urban density in the 1970s, a major change in the previously unquestioned idea on the connection between high density and ill health, and the reasons for this change.

Since the birth of epidemiology in the 19th century, high population and dwelling unit density have been considered harmful for human health, particularly because of the spread of infectious diseases. Later the negative effects were connected to non-communicable diseases and mental problems as well, and these strong views influenced for instance urban planning and housing policy. The 1970s brought along a substantial change in health-related views on urban density, and the automatic connection between high density and ill health became questioned. This change was inspired by new cross-disciplinary research (particularly environmental psychology and urban sociology) and by new environmental and societal thinking and public health priorities.

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Paper short abstract:

At the turn of the 20th century, Americans had ideas how Alaska would be developed with Northern Europeans' knowledge. Based on what kind of reasoning they were the most suitable settlers to Alaska? Ethnic diversity in Alaska is discussed together with contemporary ideas about race and environment.

Paper long abstract:

When the United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867, it had no idea what to do with it. Soon Americans turned their eyes to other northern regions and started to hope that with these people and their knowledge Alaska could become a productive territory. These ideas and projects include an idea of climate and environment related knowledge, skills, and adaptability. They also include a belief that this kind of knowledge could be imported to other places. Americans thought that people from regions like Iceland, Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden would have inherited characteristics that would make them both capable and willing to tame this distinctively northern region they had acquired. But did Northern Europeans find Alaska as appealing as Americans were hoping for? This poster considers both sides, Americans’ ideas and hopes and Northern Europeans’ experience. Immigration history in Alaska has received very little attention and this poster helps fill that gap by presenting stories, figures, and pictures of Northern European presence in the late 19th and early 20th century. It discusses ethnic diversity in Alaska together with contemporary ideas about race and environment. In addition to Northern Europeans, there were other European migrants, Canadians, Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian migrants in Alaska. Based on what kind of reasoning were the first ones the most suitable settlers to Alaska? The aim is to point out that even if we cannot see something today, it does not mean that it was not there or does not have historical relevance.

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Paper short abstract:

The practice of attributing proper names to equids, which is documented throughout the Portuguese medieval period, associated with the medieval belief that horses were not perceived to recognise a name as such, raised a question: Why call them by name, if they supposedly did not understand it?

Paper long abstract:

Our intention with this poster is to show the logic behind the attribution of proper names to equids. This practice, which is clearly documented throughout the Portuguese medieval period, associated with the medieval belief that horses were not perceived to recognise a name as such, raised a question that serves as the starting point for the analysis we intend to present: Why call them by name, if they supposedly did not understand it? Based on a hitherto unpublished source compiled during the reign of King Manuel I of Portugal (1495-1521), exhaustive in detail and information about the equines in the royal stables, we have identified and substantiated seven different logical templates for giving an equine a proper name. From these, we have concluded that this practice of naming animals shows us, on the one hand, the imminently practical nature of identifying/distinguishing a particular equine and, on the other, a possible attempt to grant them some individuality, based on the affective bond between man and animal and, perhaps, even a certain anthropomorphisation of particular equids.

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Paper short abstract:

This exposition places Lake Amik at the forefront, elucidating the complex relationalities among the lake, the city, and the nation. It seeks to unravel the lake as a witness to the Turkey earthquake 2023.

Paper long abstract:

Once a thriving habitat rich in numerous endemic species, Lake Amik, the very area where Hatay Airport stands today, underwent a gradual desiccation. This process bore witness to the disappearance of its endemic species concurrent with change in various aspects of life within the city of Hatay and the country. Then, in 2023, a formidable earthquake struck Hatay Airport, resulting in the fracturing of its infrastructure and the transformed the city into an island, compounded by the destruction of highways. This poster aims to shed light on the environmental history of a Turkey, tracing it through the lens of a lake, primarily within the context of its southern border city, but also within a broader perspective. In the light critical realist philosophy of science, this poster aims to uncover the relationalities among the lake, the city and the country,

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Paper short abstract:

I intend to explore how a psychoanalytic approach might contribute to the field of environmental history, considering how critical use of its concepts could improve understanding of the human subjectivity and perception which is at the heart of human interactions with nature.

Paper long abstract:

Since the beginnings of the discipline of psychoanalysis in the nineteenth century, analysts have engaged with analysands struggling with the problems of the present they inhabited. For the early profession, new forms of urban modernity, visual arts, or mechanised warfare ended up as subjects on the couch. For contemporary analysts, climate anxiety is emerging in the conscious and subconscious of analysands struggling with the lived reality and imagined future of environmental breakdown.

Psychoanalysis begins with a fluctuating subject underwritten with a subconscious containing conflict and contradiction as inevitable dynamics. It is aware of the difficulty of being in the world, and the ways in which the subject seeks to reorder that same world as a means of achieving relief. Our homes and everyday spaces have long been the site and subject of psychic life. The same theories and analytic approach might be applied to spaces of nature from gardens to ‘wilderness’.

Psychoanalysis is also concerned with the developmental stages of human subjectivity, and the transformation of our models and conceptual capacities to understand the world we perceive. Animals, plants and ecosystems all have both conceptual existence in the human subject, as well as their own ecological realities. Misalignment can result in significant and harmful consequences for human and non-human life.

Environmental History has a focus on human interactions with nature. Psychoanalytically informed approaches human subject, to the interplay of contradictions, projections, transferences, and desires, could provide interpretative value to the study of the nature that emerges from these interactions.

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Paper short abstract:

It presents research in prospecting and analysis of articles and scientific productions from the Scientific Electronic Library Online – SCIELO Brasil collection about activities, strategies, methodologies and interventions that help improve the institutional capacity in water governance.

Paper long abstract:

This poster proposes to present research in its initial phase, seeking a space for debate about methodologies and theoretical-conceptual frameworks. The research aims to prospect and analyze articles and other scientific productions from the collection of Scientific Electronic Library Online – SCIELO Brasil, stored and published between 2000 and 2022, focused on the topic of water, with the aim of contributing to cooperation and development of Institutional Authorities with an emphasis on water governance. Its methodology is a systemic bibliographic review, considering the measurement of titles, abstracts and keywords based on the descriptors: water supply; water deficiency; water security; water governance and management to assemble a research collection using the Zotero® database and bibliography manager (BDM). It seeks to emphasize activities, strategies, methodologies and interventions that help improve the institutional, endogenous and exogenous capacity of bodies that influence water governance. The proposal's theoretical framework is the development of institutional capabilities, the political geography of water and the critical analysis of the themes State and democracy included in them. Concepts that in turn are crossed by the idea of sustainability, dissent and asymmetries, when considered in the sphere of public policy development and development of institutional capabilities. You propose interdisciplinary dialogue with emphasis on History and Geography as a guide in the analysis of intellectual products from other areas of knowledge, since water, as a fundamental substance for life, mobilizes the production of interdisciplinary knowledge in Sciences and Humanities to your study.

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Paper short abstract:

The poster introduces NEMUS, a digital collaborative platform in medieval environmental studies. It seeks to address the gap between distinct, yet overlapping, scientific disciplines and facilitate interdisciplinarity and collaboration across the so-called 'hard' and 'soft' sciences.

Paper long abstract:

NEMUS, the Network for the Environment in Medieval Usages & Societies, is a digital platform for scholars of medieval environmental studies to engage, discuss, and pursue collaboration. Its expanding core of researchers works on Portuguese topics with a strong international outlook. The Network's main contribution is to address the gaps (often too wide) between distinct, yet overlapping, scientific disciplines concerning the medieval environment. It aims to

facilitate the development of interdisciplinarity, the gestation of new ideas, and, so we hope, enhanced collaboration across the so-called 'hard' and 'soft' sciences.