Greenhouse Environmental Humanities Book Talks

Ben Anderson, Lecturer in Twentieth Century European History at Keele University (UK), discussed his book  Cities, Mountains and Being Modern in fin-de-siècle England and Germany  (Palgrave, 2020) in the Greenhouse Environmental Humanities Book Talk series on Monday, 24 May 2021. This book is the first transnational history of rambling and mountaineering. Focussing on the critical turn-o...

Finn Arne Jørgensen, Professor of environmental history at University of Stavanger and co-host of the book talk series, presented his recent book  Recycling  (MIT Press, 2019) on 10 May 2021 in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book series. Is there a point to recycling? Is recycling even good for the environment? In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Finn Arn...

Elizabeth Parker, founder of  Gothic Nature Journal,  presented her book  The Forest and the EcoGothic: The Deep Dark Woods in the Popular Imagination  (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on 3 May 2021. This book offers the first full length study on the pervasive archetype of The Gothic Forest in Western culture. The idea of the forest as deep, d...

Justyna Poray-Wybranowska, an early career researcher in postcolonial studies and environmental humanities, discussed her book  Climate Change, Ecological Catastrophe, and the Contemporary Postcolonial Novel  in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on Monday, 26 April 2021. Climate Change, Ecological Catastrophe, and the Contemporary Novel  responds to the critical need for tra...

As part of Environmental History Week organized by the American Society for Environmental History, the Greenhouse Environmental Humanities Book Talk series hosted a special panel discussion featuring environmental historians who have presented their books in the series during the previous year. This special book talk took place on Monday, 19 April 2021, 16:00 in Norway (10am US Eastern). Our panel...

Frederico Freitas, Assistant Professsor of History at North Carolina State University (USA), discussed his book  Nationalizing Nature: Iguazu Falls and National Parks at the Brazil-Argentina Border  (Cambridge University Press, 2021) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on Monday, 12 April 2021. Today, one-quarter of all the land in Latin America is set apart for nature prot...

On Monday, 29 March 2021, the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk was joined by Jonathan Padwe, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa, to discuss his book  Disturbed Forest, Fragmented Memories: Jarai and Other Lives in the Cambodian Highlands  (University of Washington Press, 2020). In the hill country of northeast Cambodia, just a few kilomet...

C. Anne Claus, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at American University (USA), presented her book  Drawing the Sea Near: Satoumi and Coral Reef Conservation in Okinawa  (University of Minnesota Press, 2020) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on Monday, 22 March 2021. This richly detailed, engagingly written ethnography focuses on Okinawa’s coral reefs to explor...

Timo Maran, Professor of Ecosemiotics and Environmental Humanities at Tartu University, presented his new book  Ecosemiotics: The Study of Signs in Changing Ecologies   (Cambridge University Press, 2020) in the Greenhouse book talk series on Monday, 15 March 2021. This Element provides an accessible introduction to ecosemiotics and demonstrates its pertinence for the study of today’s uns...

Pratik Chakrabarti, chair in the history of science and medicine and director of the Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at the University of Manchester, presented his book  Inscriptions of Nature: Geology and the Naturalization of Antiquity  (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020) in the Greenhouse book talk series on Monday, 8 March 2021. In  Inscriptions of...

Alda Balthrop-Lewis, Research Fellow in Religion and Theology at Australian Catholic University, joined the Greenhouse Environmental Humanities Book Talk series to discuss her book  Thoreau’s Religion: Walden Woods, Social Justice, and the Politics of Asceticism  (Cambridge University Press, 2021) on Monday, 1 March 2021. Thoreau’s Religion presents a ground-breaking interpretation of He...

Benjamin Cohen, Associate Professor of Engineering Studies and Environmental Studies at Lafayette College (USA), discussed his book  Pure Adulteration: Cheating on Nature in the Age of Manufactured Food   (University of Chicago Press, 2019) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book series on Monday, 22 February 2021. In  Pure Adulteration , Cohen uses the pure food crusades to...

Jemma Deer, Researcher-in-Residence at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (Germany), talked about her book  Radical Animism: Reading for the End of the World  (Bloombury, 2020) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on Monday, 15 February 2021. In Radical Animism, Deer offers a new theory of animism for an age of environmental crisis, elaborate...

Craig Santos Perez, Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa, discussed his book of eco-poetry Habitat Threshold (Omindawn, 2020) in the Greenhouse book talk series on Monday, 8 February. With  Habitat Threshold , Craig Santos Perez has crafted a timely collection of eco-poetry that explores his ancestry as a native Pacific Islander, the ecological pli...

Stefania Barca, Zennström visiting professor in Climate Change Leadership, Uppsala University, Sweden, joined the Greenhouse book talk series on Monday, 1 February 2021 at 16:00 to discuss her book  Forces of Reproduction  (Cambridge University Press, 2020). The concept of Anthropocene has been incorporated within a hegemonic narrative that represents ‘Man’ as the dominant geological force of our...

Sasha Engelmann, Lecturer in GeoHumanities at Royal Holloway University, joined us for a Greenhouse online book talk about her book  Sensing Art in the Atmosphere: Elemental Lures and Aerosolar Practices   (Routledge, 2020) on Monday, 25 January 2021. Sensing Art in the Atmosphere: Elemental Lures and Aerosolar Practices  traces the potential of artistic, community-driven experiments to ampli...

Kate Teltscher, Emeritus Fellow of the School of Humanities at the University of Roehampton and Visiting Researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, discussed her new book  Palace of Palms: Tropical Dreams and the Making of Kew  (Pan Macmillan, 2020) in the Greenhouse book talk series on Monday, 18 January 2021. Daringly innovative when it opened in 1848, the Palm House in Kew Gardens...

On Monday, 11 January 2021, Jamie Lorimer, associate professor in the School of Geography and the Environment at University of Oxford, discussed his book  The Probiotic Planet: Using Life to Manage Life  (University of Minnesota Press, 2020) on the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series. Most of us are familiar with probiotics added to milk or yogurt to improve gastrointestinal healt...

Peter Dauvergne, Professor of International Relations at the University of British Columbia (Canada), discussed  AI in the Wild: Sustainability in the Age of Artificial Intelligence  (MIT Press, 2020) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on Monday, 7 December 2020. Drones with night vision are tracking elephant and rhino poachers in African wildlife parks and sanctuaries; sm...

Alexandra (Ally) Palmer, post-doctoral researcher at University of Oxford, presented her book  Ethical Debates in Orangutan Conservation  (Routledge, 2020), on Monday, 30 November 2020, in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series. Ethical Debates in Orangutan Conservation  explores how conservationists decide whether, and how, to undertake rehabilitation and reintrod...

Australian writer Rebecca Giggs discussed her book  Fathoms: The World in the Whale  (Scribe, 2020) on Monday, 23 November 2020, in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series. When Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beach in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales might shed light on the condition of our seas. How do whales experience envi...

Alenda Chang, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at University of Calidornia Santa Barbara (USA), discussed her book  Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games  (University of Minnesota Press, 2019) on Monday, 16 November 2020 in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series. Arguing that video games need to be understood as part of a cultural response to the growing ecological...

Aidan Tynan, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff University (Wales), presented his book  The Desert in Modern Literature and Philosophy: Wasteland Aesthetics   (Edinburgh University Press, 2020) in the Greenhouse online book talk series on Monday, 9 November 2020. Tynan offers a timely and provocative rethinking of some of the core assumptions of ecocriticism and the environmental hum...

Peder Anker, Professor of History of Science at New York University (USA), presented his book  The Power of the Periphery: How Norway Became an Environmental Pioneer for the World  (Cambridge UP, 2020) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on 2 November 2020. What is the source of Norway’s culture of environmental harmony in our troubled world? Exploring the role of...

Hannah Boast, Ad Astra Fellow and Assistant Professor at University College Dublin, presented  Hydrofictions: Water, Power and Politics in Israeli and Palestinian Literature  (Edinburgh University Press, 2020) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on Monday, 26 October 2020. Water is a major global issue that will shape our future. This book identifies water as a cr...