CFP: 2016 Society for Military History Panel on World War I and the Environment in North America

Richard Tucker, University of Michigan

We are seeking papers for a panel proposal on “World War I and the Environment in North America” for the forthcoming 2016 Society for Military History (SMH) annual meeting that will be held April 14-17 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The 83rd Annual Meeting will be hosted by the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of History. One of the major conference themes for 2016 is “Geography as History” which lends itself readily to the new work being carried out in military-environmental history. The Great War centennial has led to a wealth of new research using various new tools and approaches including environmental history. In many ways this panel will continue a dialog that began during a 2014 SMH panel on the environmental history of World War I. That session featured papers dealing with food production and transportation systems, chemical warfare, and the increasing weaponization of forestry. Possible paper proposal topics for 2016 include -but are not limited to- foodways, animal use, the militarization of local/global commodity chains, the battlefield and the home front, pollution, militarized landscapes, forestry, agriculture, famine, and the environmental aspects of naval warfare, among others. In addition topics dealing with the military-environmental aspects of the Canadian effort during World War I are especially welcome.

If you are interested please forward a 500-word proposal and a 1-page CV by August 30 to Richard Tucker at the University of Michigan (rptucker@umich.edu) and Gerard Fitzgerald at George Mason University (gfitzge2@gmu.edu). We must prepare the final panel proposal by October 1.