History & Environment in the Atlantic Region

Call for Papers on
Environmental History in Atlantic Canada,
A thematic volume with Acadiensis Press

Editors
Claire Campbell, Dalhousie University
Robert Summerby-Murray, Mount Allison University

We have received approval from Acadiensis Press to issue a call for contributions and prepare a thematic collection of papers that demonstrates the relevance of environmental history to Atlantic Canada in the twenty-first century. Environmental history is uniquely positioned to engage current public debate on such pressing issues as climate change, environmental consequences of resource extraction, and the social and cultural results of changing environments in our region. With such environmental issues at the forefront of public discussion, it seems timely to examine the contributions that an historical perspective can bring to informing policy and practices of sustainability within Atlantic Canada. It is increasingly apparent that any present or future response to environmental conditions and environmental change requires a better understanding of the consequences of past practices.

We are seeking contributions that demonstrate a regionally and theoretically informed environmental history of Atlantic Canada. We plan to feature essays that showcase innovative research in history, geography, the biological sciences, archaeology, and cultural studies; that address a range of topics, from industrial to mythic landscapes, from across the region; and that are oriented toward public engagement and policy application. This collection will appeal to an unusually diverse group of contributors and readers, with a particular appeal for classroom use in the tradition of earlier edited collections from Acadiensis Press. The volume will receive intellectual and financial support for publication from NiCHE (the SSHRC-funded Network in Canadian History and Environment) and the regional group of HEAR (Historians of the Environment of the Atlantic Region).

We are seeking contributors for the essays that will constitute the majority of this volume, to address the environmental history of the Atlantic region around the three themes of: (i) Ecologies, Sustainability and Change; (ii) Human Responses and Adjustments; and (iii) Culture, Memory and Representation. Contributions that address traditional strengths of environmental history in the region (impacts of extractive industries and their associated political economy) are welcomed as well as more wide-ranging contributions that interpret environmental history through the lenses of gender, labour, culture, representation and memory. Contributions should be approximately 7500 words in length (with a maximum of 10,000 words including footnotes and references).

If you are interested in contributing to this volume, please contact the co-editors directly (at Claire.Campbell@dal.ca and/or rsummerb@mta.ca). Statements of interest (including a brief abstract) are to be received by 15 December 2009. First drafts of papers should be submitted by 1 July 2010. Editorial and peer review of papers will follow with a planned publication date of 2011.

The Historians of the Environment of the Atlantic Region (HEAR) would like to invite you to attend the second Ganong Colloquium, to be held Thursday, September 17 and Friday, September 18 at Dalhousie University.

The event will begin on Thursday evening, with Graeme Wynn of UBC giving the opening MacKay Lecture for 2009-10. The next day will be about defining research priorities and future projects, building on the momentum from the Atlantic Canadian Studies Conference in May. This will be project-oriented, and organized around group discussion. Please see the agenda, below.

We’re grateful to NiCHE (Network for Canadian History and Environment) for subsidizing the event, with travel grants for graduate students (up to 300$) and faculty (up to 200$) as well as dinner on the Friday. The Lord Nelson Hotel is just a few blocks from the university, and across from the Public Gardens; just tell them upon booking that you’ll be attending an event here. There are several other hotels in the city with CAUBO rates: see http://www.caubo.ca/pr/pr_docs/agreement_docs/Canadian%20University%20Ho...

Please publicize this to anyone you think might be interested. If you have any questions, do contact me. Hope to see you all in September!

Best,
Claire Campbell
For the HEAR Executive

2nd HEAR Ganong Colloquium
“Environmental History in Atlantic Canada: Spreading the Word”
Dalhousie University, 17-18 September, 2009

Draft Schedule

17 September, 7-9 pm Potter Auditorium, Rowe Building

Mackay Lecture
Sponsored by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the College of Sustainability
Graeme Wynn, University of British Columbia
“Sustainability and Resilience in Atlantic Canada: A Long View”

18 September, 9 am -1 pm Lord Dalhousie Room, Henry Hicks Building

• 9:00-9:30 Introduction and survey of some ongoing projects (Acadiensis, graduate student network, etc.)
• 9:30-10:30 Panel and discussion: “Setting Research Priorities”
• 10:30-10:45 Break
• 10:45-12:00 Breakout groups To discuss various topics (fishery, forestry, mining, agriculture, tourism; etc.) and various venues (regional conference, environmental history text)
• 12-1 Reconvene to discuss overall framework
• 1-2:30 Lunch on your own
• 2:30-4:30 Field trip to Point Pleasant; guided tour
• 6:00 Reconvene for dinner downtown