Environmental History symposium

Environmental History symposium
Climate, environment and human activity: shall we rethink History?

The first Environmental History symposium continues the work that began with LUMA Eco Days in 2019. It sets the foundation for an extensive research project that aims to explore how human interactions with the environment have evolved throughout time.

The symposium will look at the concept of the environment as a constantly evolving set of unstable data. The environment changes through multiple circumstances, often involving the human species. Environmental History provides an incredibly rich context that can help us understand the transformation of societies within the environments they have created, or with which they have evolved.

How do societies develop their understanding of the environment through processes of interdependency? Why is it important to analyze the past and present of our environmental thinking at this moment in time? How can we reposition the notion of non-human agents— whether these be animals, forests, soil, air, or bacteria—as key protagonists in historical processes? 

The Environmental History symposium aims to reassess and rethink human reality and history from diverse perspectives as a framework defined by complexity and continuous transformation. It brings together voices from multiple disciplines including ecologists, climate experts, and researchers, alongside artists, architects, designers, and philosophers to begin outlining this complex and fascinating field of inquiry.
 

Conferences dates: Thursday, Aug. 25 and Friday, Aug. 26
Workshop date: Saturday, Aug. 27 afternoon
Place: LUMA Arles, Parc des Ateliers, 33 avenue Victor Hugo, 13200 Arles
Price: Free 

Conferences and discussions program
 

Thursday, Aug. 25
 

• 10:30 a.m.: What Can Environmental History Do? The Environmental Historian and His Fellow
  Grégory Quenet, Professor of Environmental History, University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
   

  Recording of the conference
   

• 11:10 a.m.: Faunal Nationalism in an Emerging Economy; Tigers, Science and Society 1969-2019 
  Mahesh Rangarajan, Head of the Department of Environmental Studies, Ashoka University

   

  Recording of the conference
   

• 11:40 a.m.: Restoring Ancient Futures
  Mark D. Spence, Professor at Oregon State University
   

  Recording of the conference
   

• 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.: Break
   
• 1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: Screening: The Haunted, HD video, 23’
  Saodat Ismailova, artist
   
• 2:00 p.m.: Land-Grabs on Agricultural Lands
  Lucile Leclair, journalist
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 2:15 p.m.: Are Plants Invasive? 
  Véronique Mure, Botanist; Engineer in Tropical Agronomy
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 2:30 p.m.: The Camargue Between Two Water-Ways: The Rhône and the Sea
  Estelle Rouquette, Curator of the Camargue Museum and Deputy Director of the Camargue Regional Nature Park
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 3:10 p.m.: Living with the Mistral: The Past and Future of Regional Climate Adaptation in France
  Catherine T. Dunlop, Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Modern European History, Montana State University, Bozeman, and Gallery Editor of Environmental History 
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 3:50 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.: Break
   
• 4:00 p.m.:  Living with Heat: Bodies and People in Urban India's Changing Climate
  Amita Baviskar, Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology-Anthropology, Ashoka University, India 
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 4:30 p.m.: Addressing the History of Environmental Struggles
  Steve Hagimont, Associate Professor at Paris-Saclay University (UVSQ)
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 5:00 p.m.: Discussion: Why has nothing changed? Perspectives on Environmental Struggles
  With Amita Baviskar, Catherine T. Dunlop, Lucile Leclair, Steve Hagimont and Martin Guinard

  
  Recording of the conference

  
  Friday, Aug. 26

  More about the conferences
   

• 10:30 a.m.: Tales of an Urban Forest: Multispecies Alliances in Morro de Babilônia, Rio de Janeiro, 1995-2020
  Lise Sedrez, Associate Professor, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, History Institute
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 11:00 a.m.: Writing the Environmental History of 18th Century Paris Through its Gardens
  Jan Synowiecki, Former student of the École Normale Supérieure Ulm; Historian; Doctor in Modern History
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 11:30 a.m.: Urban Micro-Climates
  Bas Smets, Landscape Architect, designer of the LUMA park
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 12:00 p.m.: Discussion: Gardens for Changing the City
  With Lise Sedrez, Bas Smets, Jan Synowiecki and Martin Guinard
  
  Recording the conference
  
   
• 12:30 p.m - 2:15 p.m: Break
   
• 2:15 p.m.: Retrofutur: From the History of Energy Innovations to Retro-Tech
  Loic Rogard, Independent Interdisciplinary Researcher in Energy and Environment; Historian of Energy, Paris Diderot
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 2:30 p.m.: Centre for Contemporary Nature: pyro-forensis
  Samaneh Moafi, Senior Researcher of Forensic Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 3:00 p.m.: Hell on Earth  
  Timothy Morton, Professor, Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University, Texas; Director, Cool America Foundation (via Zoom)
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.: Break
   
• 4:00 p.m.: Of Bark and Lead, In Search of Stories to Embark on the Critical Zone
  Claire Dutrait, PhD candidate in practice and theory of literary and artistic creation, CIELAM Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Literature of Aix-Marseille
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 4:15 p.m.: Stop Saving the Planet!
  Jenny Price, Public Writer; Artist; Historian, Sam Fox School at Washington University-St. Louis
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 4:45 p.m.: Preparing for an Urban Exodus? 
  Sébastien Marot, PhD, Accreditation to supervise research (HDR), Professor of Environmental History at the School of Architecture of the city and territories of Paris (Éav&T) and at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL)
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   
• 5:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.: Discussion: Why Has Everything Changed? The Future of Environmental History
  With Jenny Price, Sébastien Marot, Timothy Morton, Maria Finders, Samaneh Moafi and Grégory Quenet
  
  Recording of the conference
  
   

Saturday, Aug. 27
 

• 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.: Ways of Seeing Nature: Story Writing Workshop
  We live in an age of environmental crisis, and the stories we tell about our places matter. Join historians Jenny Price (USA) and Grégory Quenet (FR) for a fun and interactive workshop on how to write urgent stories about our everyday environments — from what we plant in our yards and why we love parks to where our electricity comes from and where our wastewater goes. How do we use environments daily to live in a place like Arles? Who benefits the most? What is the environment, anyway — and why does that question matter so deeply?
  
  With Jenny Price, Public Writer; Artist; Historian, Sam Fox School at Washington University-St. Louis and Gregory Quenet, Professor of Environmental History, University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
  
  SOLD OUT
  
  Note: All conferences are simultaneously translated (FR > EN).

Speakers:

Curators LUMA Arles: Maria Finders, Martin Guinard 
Scientific Advisor: Grégory Quenet, Environmental Historian