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Instructors: Dr. phil. Martin Schmitt
Event type:
Seminar
Org-unit: Dept. 02 - Institute of History
Displayed in timetable as:
02-04-0420-se
Subject:
Crediting for:
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
- | 25
Digital Teaching:
- Online classes (Zoom)
- Moodle
- Colaborative project work
- Data Visualization
Course Contents:
- Environmental history
- History of Technology
- Histocial data analysis & visualization
- Global history
Literature:
- Brock, Emily K.: „New Patterns in Old Places. Forest History for the Global Present“, in: Isenberg, Andrew C. (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Environmental History, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press 2014 (Oxford handbooks), S. 154–178.
- Watkins, C.: Trees, Woods and Forests: A Social and Cultural History, London: Reaktion Books 2014.
- Oosthoek, Jan und Richard Hölzl (Hrsg.): Managing Northern Europe’s Forests: Histories from the Age of Improvement to the Age of Ecology, New York: Berghahn Books 2018 (The environment in history: international perspectives 12).
- Tittensor, Ruth: Shades of Green: An Environmental and Cultural History of Sitka Spruce, Oxford/Havertown, PA: Windgather Press 2016.
Preconditions:
Skills of data visualization are not mandatory for attending the course, even though they might help.
Official Course Description:
Global forests are key for several environmental developments. They interact with the climate change. They influence the water balance of ecosystems. And they prevent soil erosion. At the same time, forests were discovered as recreation areas during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Environmentalism and concepts of sustainability were developed in the woods. Forests have a history. Looking at these longer historic developments of global forests helps to understand the changing environment of modernity.
Historic practices of quantification, specification and measurement made it possible to govern the woods as a rational environment. In this seminar, we will combine methods of digital humanities like data visualization with classical historical methods like source criticism to understand the historical developments of forests worldwide. Different types of forests, ranging from German mixed forests to northern conifer forests to the South American "jungle" are investigated. Our discussions will focus on the 19th and early 20th Century. This was a time of accelerated change and measurement that impacts woods and humans until today.
Sustainability Reference of the Course Contents:
Environmentalism and concepts of sustainability were developed in forestry in the 19th Century. But its meaning change over time. In the beginning, it described a mode of production that secured economic growth. It was a way of regulating access to forests, as arguments of sustainability were used by forest owners and foresters alike to expel use of forests by the local population. Forests have a history. Looking at these longer historic developments of global forests helps to understand the changing environment of modernity.
Online Offerings:
moodle
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