Forest Humanities JISCMail
On the basis of some correspondence with other researchers, I’ve started a JISCMail for forest research. Charles Watkins has observed, in European Woods and Forests: Studies in Cultural History (1998), that ‘the complexity of forest history has been disguised’ by its treatment within particular definitions and disciplines, and that broader work is needed on the cultural meanings of woods and forests. Sylvie Nail, in Forest Policies and Social Change in England (2008), observes that the rise of new academic disciplines such as landscape ecology and environmental psychology has added to the copious discourse around forests. This includes analysis of history, politics, aesthetics, cultural meanings, and social and economic power structures: ‘(m)ore often than not, however, such aspects are dealt with in isolation, cut off from one another’.
Many distinct groups exist which address such aspects of forest use – Forest Research stations such as Alice Holt, and research projects, such as Langton and Jones’ Forests and Chases of England and Wales – but there is little broadcasting of activities to each other, or to those working with other scholarly motives, technologies, or periods (such as medieval literature, or heritage studies). I’ve suggested a JISCMail as a starting point.
“This list is for sharing announcements of events, publications, and ongoing research in the culture of trees and forests. It brings together academics and researchers from different institutions and fields, including environmental history, anthropology, art history, law, literature, and geography. It aims to provide a communication network for the large breadth of research in forest humanities, history, politics, and culture.”
The mailing list is FOREST-HUMANITIES@JISCMAIL.AC.UK, and you can go to its web page and subscribe here, after which you can freely post. Please do cascade the message out to anyone else who might find it useful for keeping their ear to the ground (or trunk…).
Alexander the Great encounters a talking tree, which reproaches him for his excessive ambition (from the Persian epic poem the Shahnameh)
Write off the map 
Reblogged this on Landscape Surgery and commented:
Amy Cutler (Ph.D. candidate) launches a new mailing list for scholars and researchers working on the culture of trees and forests.
Well done Amy – this sounds like an excellent initiative.
Gabriel
Hi Amy,
A new friend just sent me your site – I’ve been working in and around forests and culture these 18 yrs in Ireland, I’m going to enjoy looking at your work and joining the mailing list too, thanks so much
Will reblog this too, by the way, I used that image above many years ago in my final undgrad exhibition
Fantastic (and weird coincidence about Alexander the Great). Forests and eco-cinema! I run this cultural geography themed cinema too: http://www.passengerfilms.wordpress.com – we need to do another one on nature and eco-cinema – perhaps you’d be interested in speaking? thanks for the reblog, and looking forward to being in communication…
Reblogged this on seeing the forest: an ecocinema enquiry and commented:
Fantastic to have been told by a new friend about this new network today for people like me who are into ‘forest humanities’ – do share along
[…] make it! Also, a reminder for anyone who’s interested in receiving notices of this kind: the Forest Humanities JISCMail, which I run and which is free to join, is for sharing announcements of events, publications, and […]
[…] reader and writer. For those interested, energies are still gathering for future activities via the Forest Humanities jiscmail I set up last […]