CfP: ESHS/BSHS, London 2018: The nature of the city. The making and circulation of knowledge in interurban spaces (Europe and Latin America,19th-20th centuries)
SESSION PROPOSAL AND CALL FOR PAPERS
European Society for the History of Science / British Society for the History of Science
London, 14-17 September, 2018
The
nature of the city. The making and circulation of knowledge in
interurban spaces (Europe and Latin America, 19th-20th centuries)
Organizers: Álvaro Girón (IMF-CSIC, Barcelona), Oliver Hochadel (IMF-CSIC, Barcelona), Carlos Tabernero (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
This
session will ask how knowledge was produced and circulated in urban
spaces in Europe and Latin America, from the second half of the
nineteenth century until well into the twentieth century. The assumption
is that the urban space conditions (generates, facilitates but also
obstructs) the production, appropriation and communication of knowledge.
And in turn: the process of generating knowledge (about nature, but
also about man and society) shaped the modern city in Europe and Latin
America in significant ways.
The
perspective of this session is explicitly inter-urban, not confined to
one individual urban space. The case studies should not only compare
cities but also ask for the connections between them. In this
trans-urban space we assume a dialectical and multi-directional exchange
of ideas and practices but also of objects and persons.
We
are looking for case studies that deal with a whole range of historical
actors: naturalists of all sorts physicians and hygienists,
taxidermists and veterinarians, science popularizers, journalists and
writers, politicians, social reformers and eugenicists, anarchists and
freethinkers, but also the numerous and various publics of the modern
city. The assumption is that the discourses of these actors on nature,
politics and the human condition are crucially shaped by their specific
urban experiences.
We
would like to put specific emphasis on the media that deal with nature,
natural history and wild-life. The hypothesis is that these media,
ranging from museums and journals to TV documentaries, convey a specific
urban view of nature. This “production of nature” ranges from the
(usually moralizing) rhetoric of contrasting the city with the
countryside to the emergence of preservationist concepts and the
protection of nature through natural parks. Case studies about the
dialectical relationship between the urban space and nature, the city
and the country-side would be most welcome.
Yet
while the geographical focus of this session is the inter-urban space
between Europe and Latin America it goes without saying that this kind
of inter-urban – and transnational – history can only be dealt with
adequately in a global perspective. The session thus tries to adopt
recent approaches that combine urban and global history.
We ask for abstracts (maximum 250 words) to be sent to oliver.hochadel@imf.csic.es