Writing Environmental History: The Pleasures and Challenges of Communicating Ideas through Text
Workshop
25.11.2022 – 27.11.2022
Location: Studienhaus Gut Schönwag, Schönwag 4, 82405 Wessobrunn
Conveners: Prof. Dr. Melanie Arndt (University of Freiburg), Prof. Dr. Christof Mauch (RCC), Prof. Dr. Christian Rohr (University of Bern)
Guest and tutor: Prof. Dr. Kerri Arsenault
This is the second Oberseminar workshop convened by the environmental historians Melanie Arndt (University of Freiburg), Christof Mauch (RCC), and Christian Rohr (University of Bern). The workshop invites doctoral students from Austrian, German, and Swiss universities who are working in the field of environmental history and related disciplines. The first workshop took place in Switzerland and was dedicated to “Interdisciplinary and Mixed-Methods Approaches in Environmental History: Potentials and Challenges.” This second workshop will take place in a farmhouse in Upper Bavaria. It focuses on the pleasures and challenges of writing dissertations, books, and articles on environmental history. Participants will analyze and critique existing texts and learn about the “dos and don'ts” of writing. The workshop will address all aspects of writing and the writing process—from style to word choice over questions of readership and publishers. It will help participants to arrange and communicate their ideas in a way that leads to clear and strong prose. Ideally, it will help to make writing a pleasurable challenge rather than a painful chore.