International Seminar on
'Situating History of Environment: The Territory of Historians of Environment',
DRS Programme (Phase I), Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, March 3-5, 2005

The Department of History, Jadavpur University, is organizing an International Seminar on 'Situating History of Environment: The Territory of Historians of Environment' in early March 2005. The study of environmental history has now become important as a natural and inevitable result of a perceived 'environmental crisis' in today's world. This perception has resulted in the development of a broad area called Environmental Studies. However, in view of the important role of the scientists in the emergence of Environmental Studies - and the subsequent contribution of scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to this field - it has remained an open-ended subject. Within the field, 'environmental history' remains universally acknowledged as a critically important area of inquiry, but without well-defined disciplinary canons and methodological guidelines. It is strongly felt that only professional historians with the requisite methodological training will be able to (1) develop and define the agenda and disciplinary canons of this field of inquiry, and (2) historicise the present-day concerns and anxieties in the broad area of Environmental Studies. Unfortunately, no Department of History in India has come forward to undertake this task in a concerted and coordinated manner. This is the lacuna that the proposed International Seminar under the DRS project of the Department of History, Jadavpur University, seeks to fill in. This three-day international seminar on the state of art in the environmental History aims to bring together approximately 30 leading scholars sharing a common interest in the environmental history of South Asia and various parts of the world to deliberate on the subject.

Sessions will include (this is subject to change)
1) Inaugural Session, the Keynote Address
2) Defining the Territory of Historians of Environment
3) Historiography
4) Methodology
4a) Development of Disciplines and Institutions with environmental concerns :

Botany, Zoology, Geology, Marine Biology, Oceanography Geological Survey of India, Forest Research Institute, Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, Horticultural Society of India, Meteorological Survey of India

5) Management of nature: evolving role of state and society through different periods of history

a) Forestry, conservation, land-use and water resources

b) Disease, sanitation and ecology

c) Environment-oriented social movements - case-studies of tribal and other movements

d) Environment and development in modern India

e) The history of natural calamities and environmental disasters

6) History of environmental ideas in India

a) The representations of nature and environment in literature and the arts

b) Indigenous and colonial knowledge

c) The historical evolution of environmental ethics

d) Women and environment

e) Human Rights and environment

7) Environmentalist Concerns in Plural Societies: A Comparative Study of India and the Wider World

8) Globalization and Environment

9) Rag Bag

Provisional List of Speakers
Mahesh Rangarajan (USA)
Ramchandra Guha (Bangalore)
Madhav Gadgil (Delhi)
Richard Grove (USA)
Vandana Shiva (USA)
Arun Bandapadhyay (Calcutta)
Deepak Kumar (Delhi)
M.S. S. Pandyan
Vinita Damodaran (Sussex)
Subho Basu (USA)
Suchibrata Sen (Santiniketan)
Daniel Rycroft (Sussex)
Karl Jacoby (USA)
Rita Pumberton (West Indies)
Lawrence Gundersen (USA)
S. Sangwan
Prabhu Mahapatra (Delhi)
Kapil Kumar (Delhi)
Y.Vaikuntham (Hyderabad)
Adapa Satyanarayanan ( Hyderabad)
Jorge Flores (Portugal)
Kaushik Roy (Delhi)
Sumit Guha (USA)
Ravi Rajan (USA)
Chetan Singh (Delhi)
Aloke Ghosh (Kalyani)
Amal Das (Kalyani)
Arabinda Samanta (Burdwan)
Dhirendra Dhangwal (Delhi)
C.Rajendran (Calicut)
David Hardiman (U.K.)
Chhanda Chattapadhyay(Santiniketan)
Ajay Singh Rawat (Nainital)

The title and summary of the paper may kindly be sent to the following email address positively by February 5, 2005.
ranchakju@yahoo.co.in
ranjanju@fulbrightweb.org

The full paper including standard end notes should be submitted at the Conference. This is the first circular of this International Conference on 'Situating History of Environment: The Territory of Historians of Environment'.

The participants, whose papers will be accepted for presentation in the Conference will be offered local hospitality and transportation. However, international travel expenses have to be borne by the scholars themselves. For further information and registration please contact :

Professor Ranjan Chakrabarti
Department of History
Jadavpur University
Kolkata 700032 (India)
Telefax 91-33-24146962 (O)
Email ranchakju@yahoo.co.in
ranjanju@fulbrightweb.org

The University
Jadavpur University has been accredited the Five Star (the highest) status by the University Grants Commission. It is one of the top five universities in India with an impressive track record since 1955. The university has been also identified as a potential centre of excellence by the University Grants Commission. It is located in Kolkata, the capital of the state of West Bengal. Kolkata is well connected by both railroad and air. The Netaji Subhas Chandra International Airport in Kolkata is well connected with all the major cities of Asia, Europe and the United States. The participants, in most cases, will be accommodated in the University Guest House.