On November 12-13th 2014 in Uppsala Sweden, the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University and the Mind and Nature and the Integrated History and future of People on Earth research network sponsored the 1st International Workshop on Historical Ecology: The Next Generation.
Organizing this workshop were REAL ESRS Anna Shoemaker and Nik Petek. Paul Lane was a keynote speaker, and Rebecca Kariuki and Anna also presented. The event provided a platform for early stage researchers to discuss and develop their ongoing projects and facilitated inter-disciplinary discourse amongst academics of all levels of experience interested in historical ecology. A major focus of this workshop was for early stage researchers to examine the research priorities and most pressing issues for historical ecology.
The attendees of the 1st International Workshop on Historical Ecology: The Next Generation have initiated a process to determine the 50 key questions for historical ecology. Participants at this first workshop self-organized into seven thematic working groups titled: communication and time between disciplines, mobilizing local knowledge, food and politics, the practice of historical ecology, ethics and biodiversity, communication and new media, and models and landscapes . A variety of issues were discussed under the rubric of being important for historical ecology. Much discussion was generated when reflecting on how historical ecology is practiced. It became obvious that historical ecology attracts a diverse group of people whose interests populate many different theoretical, spatial, and temporal areas.
The challenge now is to bring more voices to the discussion, and determine what issues unite us. From this workshop, a group of early stage researchers has emerged that are distributing an open survey asking you, what are the key questions for historical ecology? Click here to take the survey! Note the survey will be live from January 15th – April 30th 2015.
We are very pleased to announce that a 2nd Workshop will be taking place in the Fall of 2015, hosted by Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. At the upcoming 2015 meeting at SFU, we will evaluate, discuss, and disseminate the results of the survey. Participation is open to everyone; click for contact information and more details.