Humans and Nature in the Mediterranean Landscape, CEMS Graduate Conference 2023, CEU - Vienna and Zoom, May 30–31, 2023
The consequences of global warming, pandemics, and ecological catastrophes serve as painful reminders of the contingency of human history on its natural environment. These issues have provided a forceful impetus to the study of history with environmental considerations in mind, leading to what scholars coined as an ecological turn. Since Fernand Braudel, several conceptualizations of the Mediterranean and its surroundings as a subject of historical research emphasized how common patterns of climate, geography, flora, and fauna give rise to shared models of ecology, agriculture, and social organization. Subsequently, environmental history, as well as various approaches centering on the environment in several other disciplines, inspired scholars working on a broad range of topics related to the history of the Mediterranean and led to the emergence of various perspectives on the problems of nature, landscape, sustainability, environment, and ecology.
The conference will highlight the broad variety of approaches to these topics and show that themes of nature, environment, and ecology are not only a concern of environmental historians, but they also serve as shared spaces of encounter between scholars arriving from an array of backgrounds and disciplines.
External guest wishing to attend in person must register by May 29.