„The Voice of Nature“
Whether it is the earthquakes in the northeast of the Netherlands caused by natural gas extraction, the long-term consequences of Chernobyl or Fukushima or deforestation, the politics of environmentalism is a hot topic, both in the public debate and in academia. The contested nature of the environment is not unique to our time, as the rise of environmental movements in the 1970s illustrates. But even before that, “nature” was a topic of heated political debate and struggle. Ever since the modern state increasingly intervened in nature, the effects of industrialisation and economic modernisation on nature became undeniable, and an increasing number of citizens demanded voice in the 19th century, nature has been at the heart of modern politics.
Strikingly, even though the political nature of “nature” can hardly be denied, political historians have left its study largely to colleagues from the other (sub) disciplines. In studying this topic, political scientists meet cultural historians, ecologists meet legal experts, and public administration experts share their research object with biologists. Political historians, however, are largely absent.
We argue that it is imperative for historians of modern-day politics to join in and catch up. For that reason, we have crafted the research programme “The Voice of Nature”, in which we aim to chart “the politics of nature” in the 19th and 20th centuries and analyse it as one of claim-making and contention in the name of a variety of interests: economic modernisation and profitability, scientific expertise and progress, the liveability of citizens or future generations, or the sanctity of nature as such. We aim to explain why some claims were rejected, while others were accepted and enforced, and show how the contention over “nature” led to new institutional arrangements and a redefinition of representative democracy as such.
The purpose of this workshop is to bring together scholars operating at the cross-section of several research interests: nature protection and management, expert cultures and governance studies, and environmental movements. Despite the overlap, in day-to-day academic life the various communities of scholars rarely meet and discuss the issue of environmentalism as a result of academic compartmentalisation. This workshop provides a platform to discuss and confront each other’s approaches and research questions and explore possible common ground.
The present workshop is the second meeting and the first international meeting in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Part of the agenda is to reflect on research questions and assumptions of the various disciplines in an informal setting, another part will be devoted to the discussion and assessment of the comparative research proposal “The Voice of Nature” on the politics of nature in, initially, a handful of Northwest-European polities.
Those interested are welcome to attend the workshop. They can register by sending an e-mail to Liesbeth van de Grift at l.vandegrift@let.ru.nl