Do you think about the earth beneath the buildings and the pavements? The water in the pipes, the rivers or the rainclouds? The trees along the street or in the fields? How does the air taste here, or there? How often do you look at wild animals, birds, insects, fish, flowers, fungi, plants or rocks? When did people start to notice these things? What are the myths we live by and how are they changing? What does the Anthropocene mean for the Humanities? What might the Humanities have to say about Biodiversity or Climate Change? Or globalisation? Can dialogue with organisations outside the University generate new approaches? How do the arts relate to different landscapes and the built environment? How can you write about the Sea? What environmental challenges face artists and thinkers in the 21st century? Do you have ideas on how research in the Humanities engages with the environment? Or how human history relates to the life and well-being of the planet? How writers, artists and musicians have responded to the natural world in the past? What sounds and smells arise from different environments? How have theology and philosophy shaped our understanding of the external world? And when did these ideas begin to circulate? What role does language play? What does climate change sound like? How have creative thinkers imagined the future? Do the centuries to come inspire similar visions?
TORCH will sponsor a virtual One Day Conference on new directions and fresh thinking in the Environmental Humanities. Applications are invited from postgraduate students and early career researchers in Oxford for a conference addressing urgent and perennial questions about the relationship between humans and the environment. Applicants should submit a proposal, detailing the area to be explored, with an explanation of the environmental dimensions of the questions examined in the conference, together with an outline of the format for the day, and likely participants. External speakers and groups can be invited, on the understanding that the event is virtual. Proposals that include an interdisciplinary and/or creative dimension will be especially welcome.
Since the Conference will be virtual, any costs are not expected to exceed £500.
TORCH will provide support, including an online platform, along with support from members of the TORCH team. We will also advertise the event widely on the TORCH website and on social media.
Please note that we cannot provide funds for Zoom licences or websites, as TORCH will provide both services for you.
The Conference must take place before the end of July 2021.
Applications from Early career and graduate researchers in Oxford should be submitted to torch@humanities.ox.ac.uk with the subject line “Environmental Humanities graduate conference competition”.
Closing Date for Applications: Monday, 19 April.
Environmental Humanities, TORCH Programmes
