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.

The Centre for History (CH-ULisboa) of the University of Lisbon, the Centre for the Humanities (CHAM) of the NOVA University of Lisbon and the Centre for Administration and Public Policies (CAPP) of the University of Lisbon are pleased to be hosting the 2nd International Meeting Histories of Nature and Environments: Shaping Landscapes in Autumn 2019.

Over the centuries, different aspects of the human / natural world relationship have shaped a wide range of landscapes. In the broad sense, landscapes mirror the synthesis of interactions between peoples and places, reflects circulation of knowledge and technology and materialise the development and adaptation of human's societies across time and space. They are geographic realities, but also cultural ones. From these complex and multifaceted interconnections results the recognition of landscapes as a structural component of natural, historical, cultural and scientific heritage and a vital element in the creation of each community's identity.

Following the first meeting in 2017 and the discussion on the interaction between humans and the natural world, this second reunion aims to address this relationship by bringing the broad concept of landscape into the discussion, considering that landscape also serves as a historical testimony and a fundamental source for the study of the past. A knowledge that can shed a light in the long-term relationship between humans and nature, essential in the current challenging contexts of environmental changes.

Suggested but not exclusive main topics:

Animals and landscapes

Environmental and Climate change and Human impacts

Landscape as a living archive

Literary landscapes and soundscapes

Natural and Cultural Landscapes

Natural History and Science

Society and Environment

Waterscapes and Littoral changes

Submission of abstracts The conference is open to submissions from any discipline with interests in these fields. Potential participants should submit a proposal filling out the online form available at this page by May 15, 2019.

Applicants will be notified of acceptance by July 1, 2019. The abstracts accepted in the conference will be published on-line. Maximum allotted time for presentations is 15 minutes. ​

For further information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.