Introduction: Environmental History and the History of Biology

Journal of the History of Biology, Feb 2011

Libby Robin, Jane Carruthers

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Introduction: Environmental History and the History of Biology

JANE CARRUTHERS 0 1 2 0 Department of History University of South Africa Pretoria , Gauteng 0003 South Africa 1 Centre for Historical Research National Museum of Australia Canberra , ACT 2600 Australia 2 LIBBY ROBIN Fenner School for Environment and Society The Australian National University Canberra , ACT 0200 Australia - We are delighted to have been commissioned by Paul Farber, the general editor of the Journal of the History of Biology, to edit this special issue on Environmental History. This is a field of history which has long been acknowledged to have strong links with the biological sciences, in particular with conservation biology and ecology, and with other branches of biology as well. Our brief in editing this issue of the Journal of the History of Biology is to consider the shared boundaries by the two fields of history and we believe that the articles in this issue will surely illuminate some of them. A closer reading of the environmental history literature can enrich many aspects of the history of biology and, naturally, vice versa. We hope that this special issue will encourage regular readers of this journal to make a foray into the field of environmental history, enriching it with an even firmer base in the history of biology. Environmental history is notoriously difficult to define. Take for example the title of Douglas Weiners 2005 article in Environmental History, written as he ended his term as President of the American Society of Environmental History, A death-defying attempt to articulate a coherent definition of environmental history.1 An anniversary forum in Environmental History entitled Whats next for environmental history showcased thirty viewpoints of leading practitioners, revealing that environmental historians prefer broad and inclusive definitions to narrow boundary setting and perhaps have a greater predilection for futures than other historians, as suggested by the forums title.2 The interdisciplinarity of environmental history is both a strength and an anxiety for practitioners. So rlin and Warde urge environmental historians to engage more critically in the understanding of the social context of biology and other knowledge systems.3 History and Theory carried a special issue on environmental history at the end of 2003 that appeared to accord the field theoretical imprimatur and rec ognition.4 Cultural historian Peter Burke concurs with this. He has stated that it has moved through the relevant phases of pioneering and consolidation, and now demonstrates that it has reached the age of synthesis,5 a judgment that might apply just as well to the history of biology. Environmental history is currently served with two international scholarly journals, the US-based Environmental History (which began under another name in 1975) and the UK-European based Environment and History (first published in 1999).6 Perhaps more than has been the case with the history of biology, the attention of the public has been propelled to take heed of environmental history through a concatenation of social and political interest, a burgeoning popular literature and current environmental concerns. Certainly, the birth of environmentalism as a strong global social movement with different forms in different parts of the world since the 1960s has contributed to its popularity and social profile. Popular writers such as Jared Diamond (himself a biologist) with his books Guns, Germs and Steel 1998 and Collapse 2005 have excited general interest in the topic, and the focus on global climate change also demands engagement with history.7 The Darwin bicentenary celebration of 2009 was another catalyst in the publics engagement with environmental history because it was, of course, Charles Darwin who put history into biology with his daring idea that nature was not immutable, it was in fact history, exhibiting change over time. Essentially, environmental history interrogates how arenas that have traditionally been termed nature and culture interweave with one another in different places and at different times to create an environment. It is not an homogenous discipline with a strong topical thread or even a coherent body of knowledge. It is thus somewhat broader than the history of biology, which, one might argue, deals with certain defined aspects of this wider cultural canvas. A recent book defines environmental history as explicitly history and thus belonging in the humanist tradition of studying complex phenomena with respect for humans as, ultimately, persons with intentions and morals, and belonging in the realm of the polity.8 Australian Tom Griffiths has argued that the very benefit of environmental history is that it prioritizes the historians traditional concerns of identity, agency, economy and politics using the narrative form.9 These remarks might apply equally well to the history of biology as the range of articles appearing over the years in the Journal of the History of Biology attes (...truncated)


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Libby Robin, Jane Carruthers. Introduction: Environmental History and the History of Biology, Journal of the History of Biology, 2011, pp. 1-14, Volume 44, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1007/s10739-010-9242-8