Comments on: “Race and nature are at the heart of the story:” Part I of my interview with The Republic of Nature author Mark Fiege http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/ History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present Mon, 20 May 2013 22:12:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: More on “the bloody, rich mulch of life:” Part II of my interview with The Republic of Nature author Mark Fiege : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-987110 More on “the bloody, rich mulch of life:” Part II of my interview with The Republic of Nature author Mark Fiege : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:42:41 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-987110 [...] environmental history, with chapters that span the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.  Part I of our conversation is here, if you missed [...] [...] environmental history, with chapters that span the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.  Part I of our conversation is here, if you missed [...]

]]> By: gale http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986944 gale Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:09:56 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986944 Ann, thanks for interviewing Mark. Glad that the Public Lands History Center folks posted on facebook the link to your blog. Great stuff. Ann, thanks for interviewing Mark. Glad that the Public Lands History Center folks posted on facebook the link to your blog. Great stuff.

]]> By: truffula http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986933 truffula Wed, 28 Mar 2012 04:32:44 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986933 koshembos, all organisms interact with and modify the environments in which they exist. I understand environmental history to be about the ways people, specifically, do this. The decisions we make and the trajectories we trace are not only about the challenges or the technology but also about who we are, culturally. I'm a research scientist (with a BS in engineering) and not a historian but I find environmental history important when--among other things--thinking about climate and sustainable development challenges of the 21st century. Human history is littered with cultural groups who have confronted environmental challenges in different ways with different outcomes. I guess you can be completely fatalist about this and leave it up to God but I'd like to imagine we can use our giant brains for more than parlor tricks. koshembos, all organisms interact with and modify the environments in which they exist. I understand environmental history to be about the ways people, specifically, do this. The decisions we make and the trajectories we trace are not only about the challenges or the technology but also about who we are, culturally.

I’m a research scientist (with a BS in engineering) and not a historian but I find environmental history important when–among other things–thinking about climate and sustainable development challenges of the 21st century. Human history is littered with cultural groups who have confronted environmental challenges in different ways with different outcomes. I guess you can be completely fatalist about this and leave it up to God but I’d like to imagine we can use our giant brains for more than parlor tricks.

]]> By: Western Dave http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986899 Western Dave Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:43:17 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986899 Am leaving for ASEH (Madison stop 1) tomorrow. I hope Mark will come to our panel on teaching environmental history where the high school practitioners (all four of us!) will be out in force. Am leaving for ASEH (Madison stop 1) tomorrow. I hope Mark will come to our panel on teaching environmental history where the high school practitioners (all four of us!) will be out in force.

]]> By: Paul Harvey http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986865 Paul Harvey Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:56:23 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986865 Fantastic, Historiann, and congratulations, Mark. Planning kind of a "do-it-yourself" book tour myself for sometime next school year, so this is inspiring. I was totally unaware of this book, so thanks for posting Historiann; I'm also passing this on to our environmental historian here. Fantastic, Historiann, and congratulations, Mark. Planning kind of a “do-it-yourself” book tour myself for sometime next school year, so this is inspiring. I was totally unaware of this book, so thanks for posting Historiann; I’m also passing this on to our environmental historian here.

]]> By: Historiann http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986842 Historiann Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:23:29 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986842 Koshembos: stay tuned for tomorrow's installment, when I try to press Mark on his definition and limits (if any) of environmental history. I am not an environmental historian, but I have learned a great deal from Mark and a number of other of our colleagues who do environmental history. I would say that environmental history started originally as a history of nonhuman features of usually remote or un-settled landscapes and non-human animals (i.e. histories of national parks, particular landscapes, and charismatic megafauna like wolves and bears), and these histories were frequently tied to a particular political and advocacy position (i.e. environmentalism, just as women's history has traditionally been intertwined with feminism). But over the past twenty years its scope has expanded to include human animals and their interactions with non-human features, as well as histories of urban spaces and landscapes, too. cgeye: come on down to the LoDo Tattered Cover! And thanks, Bjorn, for the comment and the link to the live webcast. Good luck on Saturday! It should be a fun event. Koshembos: stay tuned for tomorrow’s installment, when I try to press Mark on his definition and limits (if any) of environmental history. I am not an environmental historian, but I have learned a great deal from Mark and a number of other of our colleagues who do environmental history.

I would say that environmental history started originally as a history of nonhuman features of usually remote or un-settled landscapes and non-human animals (i.e. histories of national parks, particular landscapes, and charismatic megafauna like wolves and bears), and these histories were frequently tied to a particular political and advocacy position (i.e. environmentalism, just as women’s history has traditionally been intertwined with feminism). But over the past twenty years its scope has expanded to include human animals and their interactions with non-human features, as well as histories of urban spaces and landscapes, too.

cgeye: come on down to the LoDo Tattered Cover!

And thanks, Bjorn, for the comment and the link to the live webcast. Good luck on Saturday! It should be a fun event.

]]> By: koshembos http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986829 koshembos Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:00:51 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986829 For a non-historian, environmental history is far from being a clear concept. It doesn't seem to be the history of the environment and more the connection between the environment and human history (here American). Apart from the fact, for instance, that fishermen live near large bodies of water and desert dweller will not have a maritime history, I am quite lost with the concept. I do know that, for example, fascism is common to very diverse environments. I know that affluence we have experienced before 2008 brings out a lot of corruption, crime, etc. The environment doesn't seem to matter much the symptoms of affluence are quite similar whether you are in the US, Saudi or China. For a non-historian, environmental history is far from being a clear concept. It doesn’t seem to be the history of the environment and more the connection between the environment and human history (here American). Apart from the fact, for instance, that fishermen live near large bodies of water and desert dweller will not have a maritime history, I am quite lost with the concept.

I do know that, for example, fascism is common to very diverse environments. I know that affluence we have experienced before 2008 brings out a lot of corruption, crime, etc. The environment doesn’t seem to matter much the symptoms of affluence are quite similar whether you are in the US, Saudi or China.

]]> By: cgeye http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986823 cgeye Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:44:32 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986823 Denver? Hmmm.... Denver? Hmmm….

]]> By: Bjorn Skaptason http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986780 Bjorn Skaptason Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:51:12 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986780 That was a fine interview, and I am really enjoying Republic of Nature. I am lucky to host Mark in the first event listed above - March 31 at Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. As Historiann states this interview will be webcast live, so you can watch wherever you are in nature, provided you have "improved" the nature around you into a reasonably high-speed internet connection:-). But the "location" of the event for Internet viewers is is http://www.virtualbooksigning.net/virtualbooksigning.html March 31 is a two-part event beginning at Noon, and Mark's interview begins at about 1:15 Central Time. Thanks! That was a fine interview, and I am really enjoying Republic of Nature.

I am lucky to host Mark in the first event listed above – March 31 at Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. As Historiann states this interview will be webcast live, so you can watch wherever you are in nature, provided you have “improved” the nature around you into a reasonably high-speed internet connection:-).

But the “location” of the event for Internet viewers is is http://www.virtualbooksigning.net/virtualbooksigning.html

March 31 is a two-part event beginning at Noon, and Mark’s interview begins at about 1:15 Central Time.

Thanks!

]]> By: Indyanna http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/27/race-and-nature-are-at-the-heart-of-the-story-part-i-of-my-interview-with-the-republic-of-nature-author-mark-fiege/comment-page-1/#comment-986750 Indyanna Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:36:21 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=18394#comment-986750 During the 1973/4 energy eclipse, I was on the lam after (sort of) passing prelims and driving with a friend across country. You were not allowed buy gas on alternate days, depending on some algorithm in your license plate, and nobody could buy gas on Sundays. Fortunately, we were in the freedom-loving, anarchy-embracing "state" of Texas, where you could buy gas as long as you had money, grab some firecrackers in the convenience store attached to the filling station, and toss them out of the car into the night sky, provoking a small cattle stampede (in one event that actually happened). In the brutally cold last few days of the Ford administration, when every school north of Tennessee was closed for a week, I was trying to drive to my first day on an actual history "job" that was in the then-unnamed domain of public history. It was so cold that the gas pumps were frozen and I don't know how my car kept running until I got to my destination. Was that version of me some kind of a historical actor or something, even though I was not riding on a Blue Ox? During the 1973/4 energy eclipse, I was on the lam after (sort of) passing prelims and driving with a friend across country. You were not allowed buy gas on alternate days, depending on some algorithm in your license plate, and nobody could buy gas on Sundays. Fortunately, we were in the freedom-loving, anarchy-embracing “state” of Texas, where you could buy gas as long as you had money, grab some firecrackers in the convenience store attached to the filling station, and toss them out of the car into the night sky, provoking a small cattle stampede (in one event that actually happened). In the brutally cold last few days of the Ford administration, when every school north of Tennessee was closed for a week, I was trying to drive to my first day on an actual history “job” that was in the then-unnamed domain of public history. It was so cold that the gas pumps were frozen and I don’t know how my car kept running until I got to my destination. Was that version of me some kind of a historical actor or something, even though I was not riding on a Blue Ox?

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