Establishing Environmental History as an Academic Discipline in Norway

Norway has historically been the weakest Nordic country in environmental history research (with the exception of Iceland), which is unfortunate considering Norway's emphasis on environmental research in general. Although the Research Council has institute d a large environmental project funding scheme called Miljø2015, few of the funded projects are historically focused. In addition, environmental historians tend to work in non-history departments on funded projects rather than in tenured positions, making coordination challenging. But we believe that Norway has the potential to become a leader in the field because of recent activities undertaken by the environmental history research group at NTNU, which include establishing the Nordic Environmental Histor y Network (funded by Nordforsk 2009-2011), organizing research exchanges and guest lectures, and holding prominent roles in European environmental history associations. We are requesting funding for 4 activities: 1. Nordforsk Network Coordination. Finn Arne Jørgensen successfully put together the Nordic Environmental History Research Network that includes 58 members representing all the Nordic countries. We are asking for funding for coordinating the network activities. 2. "Writing Environmental Histor ies of the North" Book Editing. The 2nd workshop in the Nordforsk series will focus on how environmental histories of the North differ from environmental histories of other places. The output will be a volume co-edited by Dolly Jørgensen. We are asking fo r funding for coordinating and editing the volume. 3. Miljø og kultur Seminar Series Guest Lectures. We wish to invite leading international scholars to a university-wide seminar series on environment and humanities. We are asking for travel costs for 2 s peakers. 4. European Society for Environmental History Steering Activities. Finn Arne Jørgensen serves on the ESEH board, which will have 2 meetings in 2010. We are asking for travel costs for these meetings.