Wildfires in Siberia

An interesting, and sad, article about the wildfires in Siberia.

Of particular interest to the Network group who visited Lake Baikal last summer and experienced the lake shrouded in smoke from wildfires.

https://theconversation.com/vast-wildfires-are-burning-in-remote-siberia-far-from-humans-heres-why-we-should-care-62881

Into a Frozen Inferno: Personal and Historical Trajectories in Monchegorsk

An article in 'Toxic News' on August 3 2016, by Andy Bruno.

https://toxicnews.org/2016/08/03/into-a-frozen-inferno-personal-and-historical-trajectories-in-monchegorsk/

Andy Bruno is Assistant Professor of History and Faculty Associate in Environmental Studies at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of The Nature of Soviet Power: An Arctic Environmental History.

Our Russian partners win prestigious grant from the Russian Science Foundation!

A team of researchers led by Professor Julia Lajus of the Higher School of Economics, St Petersburg (HSE Spb), has been awarded a large grant for their project entitled:

Natural Resources in the History of Russia: Economic Institutes, Communities of Experts, and Infrastructures 

The full team is: Julia Lajus, Alexandra Bekasova, Marina Loskutova, Margarita Dadykina, Elena Korchmina, Elena Kochetkova and PhD students Ekaterina Kalemeneva and Vassily Borovoy (HSE Spb); Andrei Volodin (Moscow State University); Alexei Kraikovski  (European University at St Petersburg); Anastasia Fedotova (Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg). 

The project will make a significant contribution to the growing international scholarship in environmental history from a European as well as a global perspective. The environmental history of Russia will be analysed within an interdisciplinary framework incorporating a range of fields from across the humanities and social sciences. The project involves analysis of economic institutions, the activities of the expert community, and the development of infrastructures. The project comprises individual case studies of s , formed by major chronological periods , and the focus will be on lesser known historically significant natural resources (forests , water, fisheries , minerals ) over the period from the seventeenth century to the end of the Cold War in the late twentieth century.

The new knowledge obtained as a result of joint work of researchers specializing in the field of economic, environmental and technological history, will significantly improve the understanding of the interaction of people and nature in the past and will be useful in the development of informed decisions in the field of environmental management in the present.

The project is a very good example of what can be termed the ‘usable past’ i.e. knowledge and understanding of the past which has a practical relevance for addressing contemporary problems.

For the announcement on the website of the Higher School of Economics, St Petersburg (in Russian), please see: https://spb.hse.ru/news/179560031.html

For more details (in English) please see: http://russianenvironmentalhistory.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page_17.html

More outputs from conference "Natural Resources, Landscapes and Climate in Russia and Neighbouring Countries"

Natural Resources, Landscapes and Climate in Russia and Neighbouring Countries

26-28 November 2015

at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg

This conference was organised jointly by the National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, and the Leverhulme Network "Exploring Russia's Environmental History and Natural Resources".

The following documents are available on the Network website:

Conference programme (final version 24.11.15) conference_programme_natural_resources_final (MS Word , 28kb)

Conference abstract (translated into English by David Moon) conference_abstract (MS Word , 14kb)

Conference Report (in Russian) http://sh.spb.hse.ru/chr/news/170851899.html

Reflections of the conference by David Moon (in English) conference_reflections (MS Word , 16kb)

Student Conference "Useable Pasts" 4-5 Feb, St Petersburg

The Second History Student Conference of Higher School of Economics

USABLE PASTS

February 4-5, 2016

National Research University Higher School of Economics, Saint Petersburg

deadline for registrations 15 January

History undergraduate and graduate students  are welcome to submit paper proposals for the International History Student Conference ‘Usable Pasts’, organized by Department of History,  National Research University Higher School of Economics, Saint Petersburg.  It is a part of International Students Forum to be held in NRU HSE, Saint Petersburg on 4-5 February 2016.

The conference aims at exploring the dynamic field of history featuring both the efforts of various disciplines in dealing with the pasts and interdisciplinary approaches within the discipline of history.  The conference embraces a broad variety of research themes, which deal with material objects in history and their meanings within the framework of heritage and memory studies on the one hand, and the politics of circulation of historically formed discourses of identity and legitimacy in present-day society, on the other hand.

-- historical memory and historically-informed discourses of public politics, identity politics nationalism, cultural heritage and nationalization of the past,

-- comparative history of the imperial pasts, imperial diversity and imperial legacy;

-- symbolic representations of history in post-imperial and post-colonial societies,

-- studies of collective trauma and historical justice,

-- cultural, natural and industrial heritage, including public museums, media space, use of nature in
historical narratives and memory;

-- history in interaction with other disciplines: environmental history, history of science, technological history, urban history, economic history, history and law.

The conference will take place in Saint Petersburg on February 4-5, 2016.

The working language of the conference is English.
 
The application should be in English and consists of an extended abstract of the paper (no more than 800 words including references) and an application form.

You can register for the conference, fill the form, and load extended abstract of your paper here:
http://www.hse.ru/pasts/expresspolls/poll/166849955.html
before January 15, 2016
 
You are very welcome to ask questions, sending your queries to the address:
usable.pasts2016@gmail.com
and to Alexandra Bekasova (abekasova@hse.ru)

Conference Report - Natural Resources, Landscapes and Climate in Russia and Neighbouring Countries

A report (in Russian) is now available from the conference

 

Natural Resources, Landscapes and Climate in Russia and Neighbouring Countries

which was held in St Petersburg 26-28 November 2015 and jointly organised by the National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, and the Network.

http://sh.spb.hse.ru/chr/news/1708518https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4774445939931750905#editor/target=post;postID=263479237229677136099.html

Congratulations to Dr Alan Roe on completing his PhD!

We offer our heartfelt congratulations to network member Dr Alan Roe on the successful completion of his PhD:

"Into Soviet Nature: Tourism, Environmental Protection, and the Formation of Soviet National Parks, 1950s-1990s"

Read Alan's dissertation abstract.

Conference Report "The Environmental History of Northern Siberia: Future Directions of Research"

A report (English translation) and accompanying documents (in Russian) are now available from the following recent conference:

The Environmental History of Northern Siberia: Future Directions of Research

Conference held at Surgut State Pedagogical University, Surgut, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, Russia, 15-16 October 2015

Lake Baikal in danger, scientists warn against dam

An article in the Gulf Times on 6 September 2015 discusses current threats to Lake Baikal and its ecosystems, including plans by neighbouring Mongolia to build a dam on the Selenga River, considered the most important water source for the lake.

http://www.gulf-times.com/culture/238/details/453886/lake-baikal-in-danger,-scientists-warn-against-dam

 

Siberian Tiger Census - a newspaper article

More than 2,000 people are combing Russia’s far east for signs of the elusive wild cats to find out whether efforts to reverse their decline have been a success...

Read the full illustrated article in The Guardian at:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/18/siberian-tiger-census-in-russias-far-east

Soviet Union collapse 'affected region's wildlife'

Research suggests that the socioeconomic shocks following the collapse of the Soviet Union also affected the region's wildlife.

An international group of authors from Russia, Germany and the USA have published a paper to this effect in the journal Conservation Biology.

Read the paper at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12450/full


See the report by by BBC News Environment Reporter Mark Kinver at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30886952

New Networking website - connect with others working in your field

David Moon and Victoria Beale at the University of York, UK, have created a networking website for people studying the environmental history of Russia and its neighbours. Our main focus is on the Post-Soviet space, the USSR, the Russian Empire and its predecessors. This is a place to discover and connect with others working in the field.

The network is for anyone who identifies themselves as an Environmental Historian, from any discipline, including academic staff/faculty, postgraduate/graduate students and independent scholars who have published in the field.

If this describes you, we invite you to add your profile to the growing number on the website. http://www.reh.spruz.com

'Steppe by Steppe' - Prof Tom Isern reviews David Moon’s book on the Russian steppe

Professor Tom Isern of North Dakota State University reviewed David Moon’s book on the Russian steppe on Prairie Public Radio, Fargo, North Dakota.

http://www.prairiepublic.org/radio/radio-programs-a-z/plains-folk?post=57129

A new show of contemporary Russian photography opens in London

See http://calvertjournal.com/features/show/2709/russia-landscape-photography-prokudin-gorsky#.U6LrFLGmXqE 

An American Environmental Historian visits Russia's National Parks

A thoughtful piece by Alan Roe - a Ph.D. student of Russian Environmental History at Georgetown University.  http://www.york.ac.uk/media/history/russianenvironment/National%20Parks%20essay%20Roe%20.pdf

Conference: “Environmental History in Russia: Stages of Development & Promising Research Directions”

Call for papers for Conference: “Environmental History in Russia: Stages ofDevelopment & Promising Research Directions”, November 13-15, 2014, Elabuga (Tatarstan, Russia). Deadline for proposals is 15 July 2014.

Contact: Andrei Vinogradov via e-mail andreivinogradov@gmail.com.

Fieldtrip to Kiev and Chernobyl postponed

Unfortunately, due to the current situation in Ukraine, we feel it is inappropriate for the Network to visit the country and hence we have postponed the Network's field trip to Kiev and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. We hope to be able to carry out this fieldtrip at a future date.

Network poster

A poster providing information about the Network is now available to download from the website at http://www.york.ac.uk/history/research/majorprojects/russiasenvironmentalhistory/#tab-7 under the subheading "Network Publicity"

Solovetsky – from spirituality to coercion. And back...

A photo essay on the Network trip to the Solovetsky Islands last August, produced by participant Ion Von Sucala, is now available to view on the website. You can access this, and other essays and information about the trip, at http://www.york.ac.uk/history/research/majorprojects/russiasenvironmentalhistory/events/#tab-2 

Health and Safety for Chernobyl trip

We have now prepared a Health and Safety Briefing for participants on the Network trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in July 2014. It is available from the Resources and Publicity page of the website.

This was written by Victoria Beale (Network Facilitator) in conjunction with Ian Haslam (Head of Radiation Protection at the University of Leeds following a meeting between Victoria, Ian, David Moon (Lead Investigator) and  Chris Teeling (Health and Fire Safety Officer at the University of York).