Call for Submissions – Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration

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Call for Submissions

Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration

Submissions accepted on an ongoing basis.

Series editors: Jessica DeWitt, Shannon Stunden Bower, Niiyokamigaabaw Deondre Smiles

The Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE) is soliciting submissions of blog posts that help document the effects of the current United States federal administration on the discipline of environmental history and the practices of environmental historians.

Many organizations are actively involved in tracking, analysing, and confronting the changes wrought by the current federal administration in the United States. NiCHE is positioned to make a modest contribution to these efforts by offering a forum in which changes bearing directly on environmental history and environmental historians might be documented and analyzed. This blog series might help bring into focus particular dimensions of current circumstances that otherwise might not receive the attention they deserve. It might also serve as a resource for future analysts keen to understand the consequences of the current political era for a particular scholarly field. 

We particularly welcome posts that:

  • focus on particular environments or environmental issues that help clarify the consequences of the United States’ current political regime.
  • address topics like changes in the availability of data and records, retrenchment or elimination of programs or services addressing matters of environmental justice, cuts in university programs and available funding, and new risks or vulnerabilities derived from shifts in conservation or environmental monitoring practices.
  • consider relevant aspects of prior political administrations, historical processes that have facilitated the ascension of those now in power, or broader global contexts of particular interest to environmental historians (like hostility toward scientific expertise or the environmental dimensions of populism).
  • attend to the differential effects of current United States policies or actions and foreground the experiences of those who are particularly vulnerable.

We are also glad to consider posts that approach current political circumstances from other angles, provided these posts serve the aims of documenting or exploring contemporary developments of broad significance to environmental historians within and beyond the United States.

We invite blog posts in the range of 800 to 1200 words, though shorter and longer pieces will be considered. Ideally, posts should be accompanied by at least one image that is free of copyright restrictions. NiCHE is prepared to consider publishing blog posts without attaching authors’ names.

Prospective authors are encouraged to submit proposals to the series editors, though fully drafted posts are also welcomed. Proposals would typically involve a roughly 200-word description of the intended post. Submissions will be accepted in an ongoing manner, with blog posts appearing as rapidly as possible after submission. For more information or to submit, please contact series editors Jessica DeWitt (jessicamariedewitt [at] gmail.com), Shannon Stunden Bower (stundenbower [at] ualberta.ca), and Niiyokamigaabaw Deondre Smiles (deondre.smiles [at] gmail.com).

NiCHE offers $50 CAD honoraria to contributors without adequate or consistent access to institutional support. Learn more about our honoraria policy here.

Feature Image: “Flooding on the tracks north of MNR’s Garrison Station – different direction” by MTAPhotos is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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Jessica DeWitt

NiCHE Editor-in-Chief, Social Media Editor at Jessica M. DeWitt: Editing and Consulting
is an environmental historian of Canada and the United States, editor, project manager, consultant, and digital communications strategist. She earned her PhD in History from the University of Saskatchewan in 2019. She is an executive member, editor-in-chief, and social media editor for the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE). She is the Managing Editor for the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and Associate Editor for Environmental Humanities. Closer to home, she is the President of the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society, a Coordinating Team member of Showing Up for Racial Justice Saskatoon-Treaty Six, and a Conservation Advisory Committee member for the Meewasin Valley Authority. She focuses on developing digital techniques and communications that bridge the divide between academia and the general public in order to democratize knowledge access. You can find out more about her and her freelance services at jessicamdewitt.com.

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