Call for Papers

Workshop Resources, Infrastructures and the Anthropocene: Dialogues between the Global-North and the Global-South Caparica Campus, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal 18 - 20 September 2019

We welcome proposals for participation in the workshop Resources, Infrastructures and the Anthropocene: Dialogues between the Global-North and the Global-South, which will take place at Caparica Campus, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal, between September 18 and 20, 2019.

Global resources and resource infrastructure play a significant role in modern societies; through a variety of ambivalent historical processes, they have come to entangle—and (re)produce tensions between and within—countries in the Global South and the Global North. In recent years discourses on geopolitical and domestic competition for natural resources have further intensified. So have associated concerns on resource security and circularity, socioecological vulnerabilities and inequalities, and a host of other issues. How could and should we (re)think and (re)write our global histories of resources and resource infrastructure in the age of the ‘Anthropocene’?

The workshop explores this question for two related topics:

· Resource Spaces in the Global South: Engineering Landscapes and Mindscapes;

· Globally Entangled Resource Chains and Socioecological Change: Sustainability and Global Justice in the Anthropocene.

In particular, we aim to mobilise research approaches and historical cases that help scrutinize/problematize these issues from Global South and South-North entanglement perspectives. The workshop will be based on a variety of empirical case studies, intellectual viewpoints, methodologies and literatures, and will focus on questions such as the following:

· Which assumptions, knowledges, and methodologies are used in the analysis of relations between the so called “Global North” and “Global South” regarding natural resources, infrastructures, and their environmental, social, economic and political implications? Which assumptions are shared, and which are not, when approaching our case studies? Do we have different notions and narratives about important keywords such as “progress”, “development”, “nature”, “human agency”, “sustainability”, resource “scarcity” and “security”?

· Which methodologies, research directions and questions are innovative, relevant and needed in current and future projects on the workshop topics? How can we encourage and help initiate and facilitate future research in these directions and questions? Which opportunities can we develop to increase productive cooperation of scholars in the Global South and Global North in research on global resources, infrastructures and their environmental, social and economic impacts?

Workshop setup

The workshop will be designed to maximize dialogue and discussion and not consist of traditional presentations by all participants. Position papers by invited scholars coming from Africa, Asia, Europe and South America and focused short pitches by the other participants will serve to spark discussions in different work formats.

Participants are expected to engage in the discussion of the main topics either by bringing intellectual view points and/or presenting empirical examples. The size of the workshop is limited to approximately 30 people, in order to allow for the exchange of ideas and the development of concrete future directions of research and collaborations.

Upon acceptance, all participants will receive further instructions and be asked to provide short preparatory texts of about 2 pages before the end of August.

Travel and accommodation arrangements

Travel and accommodation costs will be fully funded. Further information will be given upon acceptance.

How to apply

Please send a motivation letter (max. 1 page) on your interest in the topics of the workshop and how it relates to your research and a short bio note (1 page) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before June 7, 2019, with the subject “Application to Lisbon resources workshop”. Applicants will be informed by June 20 of the result.

Organisation

The agenda and framing of the workshop reflect the three supporting research projects agendas:

- "Anthropolands - Engineering the Anthropocene: The role of colonial Science, Technology and Medicine on changing of the African landscape", coordinated by Maria Paula Diogo. The goal of this project is to contribute to the international debate and scholarship on the theme of the Anthropocene from the perspective of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, focusing on the case of the former Portuguese colonial African empire.

- “EurReS - Challenging Europe: Technology, Environment and the Quest for Resource Security”, coordinated by Matthias Heymann and “GREASE - Global Resources and Sustainability of European Modernization, 1820-2020”, coordinated by Erik van der Vleuten.

The goal of these two projects is to develop international networks for historical research on societal challenges related to natural resources, including contested issues such as global sustainability entanglements, security regimes, socioecological inequalities, governance, and so on. These projects collaborate, and are embedded in, the explorative research program "Technologies, Environment and Resources" of the Tensions of Europe research network.

The organising team

Maria Paula Diogo, CIUHCT, FCT, NOVA University of Lisbon

M. Luísa Sousa, CIUHCT, FCT, NOVA University of Lisbon

Matthias Heymann, Aarhus University

Erik van der Vleuten, Eindhoven University of Technology

Frank Veraart, Eindhoven University of Technology

International Conference – Lyon (France), 28^th and 29^th November 2019

This conference endeavours to study chemical industries that use fossil fuel derivatives. It will focus on these industrial activities’ environmental and health effects on surrounding areas and local populations. 

By breaking with historical scholarship that considers increased fossil energy consumption and local prosperity to be a foregone conclusion, this conference calls for participants to focus their narratives of the petrochemicals industry on the health impact of its activities. As a result, this conference will give special emphasis to papers that take a fresh look at the history of health surveys in industrial areas, and to projects that foster in-depth discussions between researchers in the social sciences and public health. Three main themes are open for debate:

- The first theme calls for studying how the petrochemical industry shapes a region’s development, factoring in the conflicts about health-related issues.

- The second theme endeavours to specify the timelines of the process whereby the petrochemical industry’s health and ecological effects become visible and are managed. 

-  The third theme aims to better describe the health knowledge produced, the way that this knowledge serves as a warning about one or more substances, and how this knowledge is used to transform industrial risk regulation practices.

Working languages will be English and French.

Paper proposals will include the name of the applicant, a short CV and an abstract of no more than 400 words. The deadline for the submission of paper proposals is 15^th May 2019.

Paper proposals have to be sent simultaneously to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and sThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Applicants will be informed shortly after 15^th June 2019. The organizing committee will cover their accommodation during the conference, and applicants could ask for a cover of reasonable travel costs if required.

Successful applicants will be asked to send a working papers of about 30,000 characters before the 31^st October 2019.

Conference supported by the Fondation de France.

Organizing Committee

Renaud Bécot (Post-doctoral researcher, History, LARHRA, Lyon)

Stéphane Frioux (Maître de conférences, History, University Lyon 2 and IUF, LARHRA)

Gwenola Le Naour (Maître de conférences, Political Science, Sciences Po Lyon and Triangle, Lyon)

Vincent Porhel (Maître de conférences, History, University Lyon 1 and LARHRA)

Caros membros da Rede Reporth(h)a:

Informamos que no âmbito do III Encontro da Rede Portuguesa de História Ambiental, realizado na Universidade de Évora, entre os dias 28 e 30 de Março, procedemos à reunião dos membros da rede, no dia 29 de Março, pelas 19 horas.

A reunião teve a seguinte ordem de trabalhos:

1. Balanço do impacto do site e newsletter da REPORT(H)A, nos últimos dois anos. - A análise do número de novos inscritos na rede (23), assim como o número de acessos à newsletter, deixou bem patente o grande crescimento e internacionalização da Rede Portuguesa de História Ambiental ao longo dos últimos dois anos. É importante continuar a associar novos membros.

2. Proposta de inclusão de um espaço de divulgação na mesma rede. - Foi discutida a possibilidade de criar no website da REPORT(H)A um espaço de divulgação e discussão de conceitos, metodologias e projectos no âmbito da História Ambiental. Foram apresentados alguns exemplos já existentes (e.g. Arcadia: http://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia). A iniciativa obteve uma ampla aceitação por parte dos diversos membros da rede, devendo ser implementada nos próximos meses, com regras bem definidas e com a colaboração de todos os membros da REPORT(H)A. A discussão continua em aberto, devendo as sugestões/propostas ser enviadas para This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

3. Proposta de candidatura portuguesa à vice-presidência da ESEH, a eleger no próximo encontro bianual, em Tallinn, Estonia, 21 a 25 Agosto de 2019 (http://eseh.org/event/next-conference/). - Todos os membros da rede presentes na reunião se pronunciaram a favor da candidatura da Professora Doutora Lígia Costa Pinto, do Departamento de Economia da Universidade do Minho (https://www.eeg.uminho.pt/pt/_layouts/15/uminho.portaisuoei.ui/pages/userinfo.aspx?p=1639), proposta por Inês Amorim, como representante regional para Portugal da European Society for Environmental History.

4. Organização do IV Encontro REPORT(H)A – Coimbra 2021 - The Natural and the human without frontiers: environments and diseases. - Ficou acordado que o próximo encontro terá lugar em 2021, em finais de Março, na cidade de Coimbra, por proposta do Centro de História da Sociedade e da Cultura (CHSC), em associação com outros centros ou laboratórios de investigação subordinado ao tema The Natural and the human without frontiers: environments and diseases.

Cumprimentos, Report(h)a

Dear members of Report(h)a:

As previously announced, our members’ meeting took place in the 29th March, at 19 p.m., within the III Meeting of the Portuguese Network of Environmental History, hosted by the University of Évora, from 28 to 30 March.

The meeting agenda was:

1. Overview of the Report(h)a website and newsletter impact over the last two years. An overlook on the most recent memberships (23), as well as on the newsletter traffic, has shown the growth and the internationalization of the Portuguese Network of Environmental History, in the last two years. It is important to maintain the appeal for new affiliations.

2. Proposal to include a new topic in the website for scientific dissemination. It was discussed the possibility to develop, within our website, a new tool to debate and disclosure concepts, methodologies and projects about Environmental History. Some examples were presented, such as Arcadia (http://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia). This proposal was positively received by the attending members and should be developed in the next months, with the collaboration of all members. This discussion is still open and ideas are very welcomed at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

3. Proposal of a Portuguese application to ESEH vice-president, to be elected at the 2019 ESEH Conference, in Tallinn - Estonia (http://eseh.org/event/next-conference/). All attending members supported the application of Professor Lígia Costa Pinto, from the Department of Economics of the University of Minho (https://www.eeg.uminho.pt/pt/_layouts/15/uminho.portaisuoei.ui/pages/userinfo.aspx?p=1639), suggested by Professor Inês Amorim, Regional representative for Portugal of the European Society of Environmental History.

4. IV REPORT(H)A Meeting organization – Coimbra 2021 - The Natural and the human without frontiers: environments and diseases. It was settled that the next meeting will take place in March 2021, in Coimbra, and will be hosted by the Center for the History of Society and Culture (CHSC), under the theme: “The Natural and the human without frontiers: environments and diseases”.

Best regards, Report(h)a

IMHA – International Maritime History Association and CITCEM –U. PORTO (Transdisciplinary Research Centre Culture, Space and Memory – University of Porto) are proud to announce that IMHA’s 8th International Congress of Maritime History will be held in Porto between June 30 and July 03, 2020.

This International meeting follows the successful congresses that have been held, every four years since 1992 in Liverpool, UK (1992), Amsterdam, the Netherlands (1996), Esbjerg, Denmark (2000), Corfu, Greece (2004), Greenwich, UK (2008), Ghent, Belgium (2012) and Perth, Australia (2016).
The main theme will be “Old and New Uses of the Oceans”, and the aim is to investigate the many aspects of the relationship between humans and the oceans.

As with previous congresses, ICMH8 adopts a broad concept of maritime history, treating it as an interdisciplinary field that covers all historical periods and areas and all aspects of humankind’s relationship with the sea.

Call for Papers

It is now open the period for abstract submission for the 8th IMHA International Congress of Maritime History.

+ info: https://imha2020.com/