Upcoming Maritime History Talks at the BSHS Global Digital History of Science Festival

The Global Digital History of Science Festival is a five-day online celebration run by the British Society for the History of Science featuring talks, discussions, workshops, performances, discussions, and more – free to everyone! The Festival will take place from July 6 through July 10, 2020. To get oriented and explore the many events taking place, as well as find details on how to access the events online, visit the Festival welcome page. You can also browse the full program. Please note that events are subject to change and it is best to check the program regularly for the events you are interested in.

Global Maritime History’s editors would like to highlight two events on the program related to maritime history. Both take place on Tuesday, July 7. Please note that the event times given are in U.K. time/UTC + 1.

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

“Earth Day, the Oceans, and Ocean History” Roundtable

In this anniversary year of Earth Day, first celebrated 50 years ago, most commentators overlook the tremendous terrestrial bias of the environmentalist movement and the reflection of that land-orientation on its legacies. The ocean covers 70% of our planet, comprises 99% of its habitable space, and features prominently in present environmental challenges and prospective solutions, from marine protected areas to offshore wind energy installations. Historical attention to oceans is urgent at the present moment of global climate change and other legal, environmental, and political threats to marine health. As humans intensify pressure on the oceans, decision-makers need baseline data and knowledge of past patterns of maritime and marine resource use to make meaningful choices. This panel features authors of recent and forthcoming works of ocean history that reflect upon scientific, technological, and political themes, and provide rich case studies for addressing the legacies, futures, and impact of environmental thinking and advocacy on both the oceans themselves and on historical scholarship thereof.

Reading Material for Session:

Introduction to Roundtable Discussion: Earth Day, the Oceans, and Ocean History

Anthony Adler, ‘Chapter 5: Ocean Science and Governance in the Anthropocene’ in Neptune’s Laboratory Fantasy Fear and Science at Sea (Harvard University Press, 2019)

Naomi Oreskes, ‘Chapter 8: From Expertise to Advocacy: The Seabed Disposal of Radioactive Waste’ in Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know About the Ocean (forthcoming fall 2020, Chicago University Press)

Sam Robinson, ‘Chapter 7: New Frontiers of Oceanology and “Environmentalism”‘ in Ocean Science and the British Cold War State (Palgrave, 2018)

Helen M. Rozwadowski, ‘Introduction: People and Oceans’ in Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans (Reaktion Books, 2018)

Contributors

• Moderator: Katharine Anderson (Professor, Department of Humanities, Graduate appointment in History, STS and Humanities, York University, Toronto)
• Antony Adler (Research Associate, History Department, Carleton College), author of Neptune’s Laboratory: Fantasy, Fear, and Science at Sea (Harvard University Press, 2019)
• Christine Keiner (Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, Rochester Institute of Technology), author of Deep Cut: Science, Power, and the Unbuilt Interoceanic Canal (forthcoming summer 2020, University of Georgia Press; to be open access temporarily via the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot)
• Naomi Oreskes (Professor, History of Science, Harvard University), author of Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know About the Ocean (forthcoming fall 2020, University of Chicago Press).
• Sam Robinson (Lecturer, History of Science and Technology, School of History, University of Kent, Canterbury), author of Ocean Science and the British Cold War State (Palgrave, 2018)
• Helen Rozwadowski (Professor of History & Maritime Studies, University of Connecticut), author of Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans (Reaktion Books, 2018)