Imaginings
stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, and other imaginative accounts of the natural world
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The Uses of Environmental Humanities
By Samantha Rothbart *Featured image: “Leaving the opera in the year 2000,†a futuristic depiction of Paris. Hand-colored lithograph by Albert Robida (late 19th century). Years ago, when I began the daunting task of deciding what to study university, it seemed that everyone around me was warning against the frivolity of a humanities degree. If…
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Ecologizing Urban Ontologies in the Anthropocene
MCTS-Forum Workshop Report (17 November, 2018, Munich) By Nika Pitkänen In November 2018, the Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) of the TUM, the Rachel Carson Center (RCC) of the LMU, and Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (HFF) hosted an interdisciplinary Workshop titled Ecologizing Urban Ontologies in the Anthropocene. On the evening of 16 November…
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Book Review: Quest for the Unity of Knowledge, by David Lowenthal
by Eugenio Luciano “Two modes of understanding dominate the history of ideas. One posits the overarching unity of knowledge, the other cherishes its multifarious diversity. Unity is the goal of those who seek a single all-encompassing explanation of everything. Diversity is lauded by those who commend difference and variety as life-enhancing†(p. 1). This is…
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The RCC Goes Bavarian!
With its wealth of alpine environments and cultural traditions, Bavaria calls to diverse audiences that are as rich as its own natural heritage. Through a host of new projects rooted in sharing and comparing Munich, Bavaria, and the Alpine region, the RCC is celebrating the home of its German headquarters as well as strengthening its…
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Migrations, Crossings, Unintended Destinations: Ecological Transfers across the Indian Ocean, 1850–1920
Conference Report (11–12 October 2018, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich, Germany) By Ulrike Kirchberger (*Featured Image: “If someday…” by Abhijit Kar Gupta, CC-BY 2.0 via flickr. ) In the age of empire, thousands of species of plants and animals were transferred between Australia, Asia, and Africa. European settlers transported cattle, horses, and…
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RCC Publication Roundup 2018
If you are looking for some good reading material for the festive period and have a taste for environmental history and humanities, look no further! Here is a roundup of the 2018 publications from the RCC and affiliate publishers. RCC Perspectives The online journal publishes provocative, less formal pieces related to the Rachel Carson Center’s…
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A Fluid History of Wisconsin Breweries
By Doug Hoverson During my research for Land of Amber Waters: The History of Brewing in Minnesota, a retired employee of the Theo. Hamm Brewing Co. in St. Paul told me: “Beer is 97 percent water, and the other three percent is none of your damn business.â€
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Popularizing Climate Change and the Challenge of Multiple Narratives
By Roberta Biasillo This blog piece is inspired by Harald Lesch’s talk “Science, Society, Signs†at the RCC Lunchtime Colloquium. It focuses on the potential and limits of graphic representations of climate change-related phenomena, interpretations, and understandings. (*Featured image: Peel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L., and McMahon, T. A. (University of Melbourne). Enhanced, modified, and…
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CfA: RCC Fellowships 2019–2020
The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society invites applications for its 2019–20 cohort of postdoctoral and senior fellows. The RCC’s fellowship program is designed to bring together excellent scholars from a variety of countries and disciplines who are working in the fields of environment and society. In this application round, the RCC is offering…