International Conference – Lyon (France), 28^th and 29^th November 2019

This conference endeavours to study chemical industries that use fossil fuel derivatives. It will focus on these industrial activities’ environmental and health effects on surrounding areas and local populations. 

By breaking with historical scholarship that considers increased fossil energy consumption and local prosperity to be a foregone conclusion, this conference calls for participants to focus their narratives of the petrochemicals industry on the health impact of its activities. As a result, this conference will give special emphasis to papers that take a fresh look at the history of health surveys in industrial areas, and to projects that foster in-depth discussions between researchers in the social sciences and public health. Three main themes are open for debate:

- The first theme calls for studying how the petrochemical industry shapes a region’s development, factoring in the conflicts about health-related issues.

- The second theme endeavours to specify the timelines of the process whereby the petrochemical industry’s health and ecological effects become visible and are managed. 

-  The third theme aims to better describe the health knowledge produced, the way that this knowledge serves as a warning about one or more substances, and how this knowledge is used to transform industrial risk regulation practices.

Working languages will be English and French.

Paper proposals will include the name of the applicant, a short CV and an abstract of no more than 400 words. The deadline for the submission of paper proposals is 15^th May 2019.

Paper proposals have to be sent simultaneously to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and sThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Applicants will be informed shortly after 15^th June 2019. The organizing committee will cover their accommodation during the conference, and applicants could ask for a cover of reasonable travel costs if required.

Successful applicants will be asked to send a working papers of about 30,000 characters before the 31^st October 2019.

Conference supported by the Fondation de France.

Organizing Committee

Renaud Bécot (Post-doctoral researcher, History, LARHRA, Lyon)

Stéphane Frioux (Maître de conférences, History, University Lyon 2 and IUF, LARHRA)

Gwenola Le Naour (Maître de conférences, Political Science, Sciences Po Lyon and Triangle, Lyon)

Vincent Porhel (Maître de conférences, History, University Lyon 1 and LARHRA)

Caros membros da Rede Reporth(h)a:

Informamos que no âmbito do III Encontro da Rede Portuguesa de História Ambiental, realizado na Universidade de Évora, entre os dias 28 e 30 de Março, procedemos à reunião dos membros da rede, no dia 29 de Março, pelas 19 horas.

A reunião teve a seguinte ordem de trabalhos:

1. Balanço do impacto do site e newsletter da REPORT(H)A, nos últimos dois anos. - A análise do número de novos inscritos na rede (23), assim como o número de acessos à newsletter, deixou bem patente o grande crescimento e internacionalização da Rede Portuguesa de História Ambiental ao longo dos últimos dois anos. É importante continuar a associar novos membros.

2. Proposta de inclusão de um espaço de divulgação na mesma rede. - Foi discutida a possibilidade de criar no website da REPORT(H)A um espaço de divulgação e discussão de conceitos, metodologias e projectos no âmbito da História Ambiental. Foram apresentados alguns exemplos já existentes (e.g. Arcadia: http://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia). A iniciativa obteve uma ampla aceitação por parte dos diversos membros da rede, devendo ser implementada nos próximos meses, com regras bem definidas e com a colaboração de todos os membros da REPORT(H)A. A discussão continua em aberto, devendo as sugestões/propostas ser enviadas para This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

3. Proposta de candidatura portuguesa à vice-presidência da ESEH, a eleger no próximo encontro bianual, em Tallinn, Estonia, 21 a 25 Agosto de 2019 (http://eseh.org/event/next-conference/). - Todos os membros da rede presentes na reunião se pronunciaram a favor da candidatura da Professora Doutora Lígia Costa Pinto, do Departamento de Economia da Universidade do Minho (https://www.eeg.uminho.pt/pt/_layouts/15/uminho.portaisuoei.ui/pages/userinfo.aspx?p=1639), proposta por Inês Amorim, como representante regional para Portugal da European Society for Environmental History.

4. Organização do IV Encontro REPORT(H)A – Coimbra 2021 - The Natural and the human without frontiers: environments and diseases. - Ficou acordado que o próximo encontro terá lugar em 2021, em finais de Março, na cidade de Coimbra, por proposta do Centro de História da Sociedade e da Cultura (CHSC), em associação com outros centros ou laboratórios de investigação subordinado ao tema The Natural and the human without frontiers: environments and diseases.

Cumprimentos, Report(h)a

Dear members of Report(h)a:

As previously announced, our members’ meeting took place in the 29th March, at 19 p.m., within the III Meeting of the Portuguese Network of Environmental History, hosted by the University of Évora, from 28 to 30 March.

The meeting agenda was:

1. Overview of the Report(h)a website and newsletter impact over the last two years. An overlook on the most recent memberships (23), as well as on the newsletter traffic, has shown the growth and the internationalization of the Portuguese Network of Environmental History, in the last two years. It is important to maintain the appeal for new affiliations.

2. Proposal to include a new topic in the website for scientific dissemination. It was discussed the possibility to develop, within our website, a new tool to debate and disclosure concepts, methodologies and projects about Environmental History. Some examples were presented, such as Arcadia (http://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia). This proposal was positively received by the attending members and should be developed in the next months, with the collaboration of all members. This discussion is still open and ideas are very welcomed at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

3. Proposal of a Portuguese application to ESEH vice-president, to be elected at the 2019 ESEH Conference, in Tallinn - Estonia (http://eseh.org/event/next-conference/). All attending members supported the application of Professor Lígia Costa Pinto, from the Department of Economics of the University of Minho (https://www.eeg.uminho.pt/pt/_layouts/15/uminho.portaisuoei.ui/pages/userinfo.aspx?p=1639), suggested by Professor Inês Amorim, Regional representative for Portugal of the European Society of Environmental History.

4. IV REPORT(H)A Meeting organization – Coimbra 2021 - The Natural and the human without frontiers: environments and diseases. It was settled that the next meeting will take place in March 2021, in Coimbra, and will be hosted by the Center for the History of Society and Culture (CHSC), under the theme: “The Natural and the human without frontiers: environments and diseases”.

Best regards, Report(h)a

IMHA – International Maritime History Association and CITCEM –U. PORTO (Transdisciplinary Research Centre Culture, Space and Memory – University of Porto) are proud to announce that IMHA’s 8th International Congress of Maritime History will be held in Porto between June 30 and July 03, 2020.

This International meeting follows the successful congresses that have been held, every four years since 1992 in Liverpool, UK (1992), Amsterdam, the Netherlands (1996), Esbjerg, Denmark (2000), Corfu, Greece (2004), Greenwich, UK (2008), Ghent, Belgium (2012) and Perth, Australia (2016).
The main theme will be “Old and New Uses of the Oceans”, and the aim is to investigate the many aspects of the relationship between humans and the oceans.

As with previous congresses, ICMH8 adopts a broad concept of maritime history, treating it as an interdisciplinary field that covers all historical periods and areas and all aspects of humankind’s relationship with the sea.

Call for Papers

It is now open the period for abstract submission for the 8th IMHA International Congress of Maritime History.

+ info: https://imha2020.com/ 

HISTÓRIA DA POBREZA E DA FOME

Ciclo de oficinas e conferências

A História da Pobreza e da Fome é um tema complexo cuja compreensão convoca investigadores das ciências naturais, das ciências sociais e das humanidades. Visando aprofundar temas, conceitos, fontes e métodos de análise, que congregam dimensões ambientais, culturais, sociais, económicas e políticas, organiza-se um Ciclo de Oficinas e um Ciclo de Conferências sobre o tema. Estes decorrem entre Abril e Novembro de 2019.

Ciclo de Oficinas

Sala de Formação da Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal

As oficinas desenvolvem-se em ambiente informal e de co-aprendizagem. Cada uma debruça sobre um tema específico: (1) Fundamentos, práticas e representações; (2) Calamidades – impactos das pragas, extremos climáticos e epidemias; (3) Desigualdades e assimetrias territoriais; (4) Condições de vida (5) Contextos coloniais; (6) Da exclusão à equidade.

Têm a duração de um dia de trabalho, entre as 9:30 e as 17:45. Incluem duas sessões de três intervenções (seguidas cada uma de um debate). Os participantes (máx. 30) são chamados a intervir ativamente num processo de análise e reflexão, discutindo textos de ca. 1000 palavras, preparados pelos intervenientes, e distribuídos com 8 dias de antecedência.

Ciclo de Conferências 

Auditório da Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal

Em paralelo com o ciclo de oficinas, decorre um ciclo de conferências, aberto ao público, nas mesmas datas, entre as 18:00 e as 19:30.

PROGRAMA COMPLETO DO CICLO

ABSTRACTS ARE EXPECTED BY MARCH THE 31TH

ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS IN EUROPE  

Chairs: Pedro Baños Páez*, Sofia Bento**, Christelle Gramaglia*** & Ivan Lopez****

* Murcia University

** Lisbon University

*** IRSTEA Montpellier

**** Zaragoza University

Europe's industrial past, as well as its current position as a global industrial power, generate numerous negative externalities that are poorly known, evaluated and controlled. Although Air and Water Directives were promulgated in the 1990s and 2000s, there are still numerous infringements in these domains in the countries of the Union. And for soils, no standard yet allows to monitor its quality. Uncertainties, risks and controversies proliferate, giving a particular acuity to the society of the risk described by Ulrich Beck (2001).

It in this context that "contaminated communities" (Edelstein 2004) developed, that is, groups of residents exposed to pollution and facing various environmental and health hazards. In North America, this lead to strong mobilizations for environmental justice in the wake of civil rights movements, pointing to cumulative inequalities (Gordon 2002). In Europe, claims are raised, but not in the same way. Other interpretative frameworks seem necessary to study what is really going on.

The session we propose will deal with the European specificities of environmental and environmental health mobilizations. It will also look at all the social consequences of pollution on the social fabric, either in public spheres or in private spheres, from the point of view of various actors:

(1) What makes some social movements possible while some others do not work out in sites with major contamination risks? What role does the EU and the member states play in risk regulation in this area? What place do European civil societies hold? What hinders mobilizations?

(2) What constraints do pollutions have on social and environmental practices? How residents of polluted sites resist and cope with particularly adverse toxic situations, sometimes silently? How to better account for the hidden social costs of pollution?

The expected communications will have to focus on industrial and agricultural pollution, but may also offer openness to other environmental issues. The idea is to reflect together on the effects of alerts on collective and individual behavior, but also on the issues of responsibility so as to promote resilience, in the sense that Anna Tsing could give to this term, i.e. finding together the force to imagine survival in the ruins of productivism (2016).

Proposals (350-500 word abstracts) in English or Spanish should be sent by February, the 28th 2019, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.