Short Abstract:

In this session, scholars reflect on topics such as labor conditions, accessibility, solidarity, care, and mobility, introduce their visions for the field, and suggest concrete action in order to build more inclusive and supportive academic environments.

Long Abstract:

Environmental history has a rich tradition of locating and scrutinizing a broad range of topics related to (more than) human-nature relations. However, in troubling times of unprecedented ecological crises affecting us all and on all scales, the discipline faces new questions and dilemmas. For example, what has history to do with the climate and biodiversity crisis? How can we walk the talk of sustainability on a daily basis in our working environments? How can we interpret the concept of sustainability within the academic sphere and widen its scope? How can we build more sustainable careers?

This hybrid session takes on the critical task of asking what sustainability is, what it ought to be, and subsequently, what is the role of history considering these crises–both in terms of practice as well as on a structural plane. In short, how can we do sustainable history?

The roundtable invites scholars at various career stages and in different relationships to the institution of academia to reflect on topics such as labor conditions, accessibility, solidarity, care, and mobility, introduce their visions for the field, and suggest concrete action in order to build more inclusive and supportive academic environments.