Northeast and Atlantic Region Environmental History Forum Call for Papers

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Northeast and Atlantic Region Environmental History Forum
Call for Papers, Ninth Annual Workshop

Backyard Environments: Encountering Nature at Home

Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2022

University of Maine Hutchinson Center, Belfast, Maine

Deadline: January 31, 2022

The Northeast and Atlantic Region Environmental History Forum (NEAR-EH) brings together a group of scholars exploring the environmental history of the northeastern United States and northeastern Canada. This group first met in 2012 at the Massachusetts Historical Society with the basic premise that the environmental history of this region has its own story to tell. For several years, the group has sponsored a workshop for which participants submit pre-circulated papers that are then discussed in-depth, going well beyond the typical level of engagement authors get at a standard academic conference. Many participants have since published their papers as articles, chapters of books, or essays, or have used the feedback to advance their scholarly agenda and win competitive research grants.

While NEAR-EH has not met for two years due to the COVID pandemic, the group plans to meet in person in 2022, hosted by the University of Maine’s Canadian-American Center at the Hutchinson Center in Belfast, Maine. There may be a graduated registration fee (scaled for faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, etc.), but we hope to keep it to a minimum. However, there will be some funds for help with travel and accommodations. Once participation is confirmed, the organizers will circulate more detailed information about the workshop.

The workshop theme this year is “Backyard Environments: Encountering Nature at Home.” The organizers welcome submission of papers that reflect the reality that many of us have been spending more time at home recently and reflecting on the green spaces nearby. As such, there is growing interest in informed reflections on local places.

Previous NEAR-EH workshops resulted in the McGill-Queen’s publication The Greater Gulf: Essays on the Environmental History of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (2020), and it is hoped that this workshop could act in a similar capacity.

The organizers also welcome submissions that fall outside of the workshop theme but still focus on the environmental history of northeast North America.

The organizers also welcome submissions that fall outside of the workshop theme but still focus on the environmental history of northeast North America.

We limit paper submissions to twelve so as to ensure a meaningful experience that includes close examination and discussion of the papers. Anyone, of course, is welcome to attend the discussion.

Please submit proposals of 250 words with a shortened CV (max 2 pages) to Mark McLaughlin at mark.j.mclaughlin@maine.edu no later than January 31, 2022. Additional information concerning the workshop or Belfast, Maine in general can be directed to Mark McLaughlin at mark.j.mclaughlin@maine.edu.

Acceptance into the workshop will be announced late February 2022. Papers are due for circulation to other participants on May 27, 2022.

Feature Image: “Belfast Maine” by PHOTOPHANATIC1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
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Mark McLaughlin

I am an Assistant Professor of History and Canadian Studies, a cross-appointment with the Department of History and the Canadian-American Center at the University of Maine in Orono. I have research interests in the history of forestry, resource management and science, modern environmentalism, and government comics in Canada.

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