Last week I attended a remarkable two-day conference in Indianapolis that brought together earth scientists, life scientists, social scientists, artists, historians, and theologians in a wide-ranging program about people and rivers in the anthropocene. The “anthropocene” is a new term expressing the idea that the human impact on the earth’s crust, the atmosphere, and the […]
Tag Archives | coastal history
PTUC PhD Bursary Available at the University of Portsmouth!
PTUC is looking for new researchers. The School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies are offering a full time PhD bursary for a study connected with the History of Port Towns and Urban Cultures. Title: PhD Bursary – History of Port Towns and Urban Cultures Application deadline: Wednesday 26 February 2014 Start date: October 2014 Project description: The Port Towns […]
The Coastal History Blog 7: “The tolerant coast”
In his TV series The Shock of the New, the art historian Robert Hughes remarked that politicians don’t like port towns. They are too colorful and ungovernable. He made this statement while discussing Brazil’s decision to build a futuristic capital city from scratch. Brasilia, by implication, was a rejection of Rio de Janeiro. Next, Hughes […]
The Coastal History Blog 6: “The political economy of sand”
I just finished Lena Lenček and Gideon Bosker’s The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth. [1] There’s a lot to think about here, but the most intriguing part of the book for me was the discussion of how many well-known modern beach resorts were—in various senses—built on reclaimed land, and cannot survive in their […]
The Coastal History Blog 5 “What are beaches for?”
Most of my readers, like me, will be shivering in the hemisphere of cold, snow, and ice for the next few months. If only for relief, I thought this would be a good season to write about more summery themes. My next few postings will be about the modern beach. It’s been a while since […]
The Coastal History Blog 4: “Are Islands Insular?”
I’ve received a number of questions about islands this year. In response, I’m trying to catch up on the scholarship surrounding them. This will be an ongoing process, but today I can offer a progress report. Utopias and Lost Worlds In Eccentric Islands, the poet and travel writer Bill Holm celebrated offbeat destinations like Iceland […]
