[Translate to English:] Photo: Rachel Carson Center

Environmental history

Rachel Carson Center

The center’s mission is to advance research concerning the interrelationship between humans and nature. It contributes to public and scholarly debates about past transformations and future challenges in environment and society. Its work harnesses the power of the humanities to contextualise technologies, economies and policies.

Content

Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society

Project description

The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC) is an international, interdisciplinary center for research and education in the Environmental Humanities. A nonprofit institution, the RCC was founded in 2009 as a joint initiative of LMU Munich and the Deutsches Museum. As one out of ten Käte Hamburger Kollegs, it is was generously funded by the Federal Ministry of Research and Education. The RCC has since evolved into a permanent center at LMU.

Namesake is the American biologist, nature writer and environmentalist Rachel Carson, whose writing has raised awareness worldwide about threats to the environment and human health.

While based in Munich, the center’s staff and fellows come from all over the world.

Programmes

The Rachel Carson Center has developed into the leading institution in the flourishing field of the Environmental Humanities. Its widespread scholarly and public activities include a variety of programmes:

An international fellowship programme
International conferences and workshops
The Environment & Society Portal, an open-access digital resource
Book series in English and German
Springs: The Rachel Carson Center Review, an open-access online journal
Exhibitions at the Deutsches Museum and other venues
A Master of Arts in ‘Environment and Society’ at LMU Munich
A doctoral programme in ‘Environment and Society’ at LMU Munich
A master’s certificate programme in ‘Environmental Studies’ at LMU Munich
Partnerships with centers and research institutions worldwide
Weekly public international lecture series (Lunchtime Colloquium)
Weekly event series with environmental experts (Tuesday Discussion)
Public film screenings and subsequent discussions (Green Visions)
Turku Book Prize for the best book in environmental history
Numerous research projects, mostly funded by third parties“

Publication Series

Springs: The Rachel Carson Center Review, https://springs-rcc.org/
Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History, https://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia
Seeing the Woods: A Blog by the Rachel Carson Center, https://seeingthewoods.org/
Umwelt und Gesellschaft, herausgegeben von Christof Mauch und Helmuth Trischler im Verlag Vandenhoek & Ruprecht (Göttingen), https://www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/publications/umwelt_und_gesellschaft/index.html
The Environment in History: International Perspectives, edited by Christof Mauch, Helmuth Trischler, Stephania Barca and Kieko Matteson, published by Berghahn Books (New York and Oxford), https://www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/publications/publications_intl_env_history/index.html
Global Environment: A Journal of Transdisciplinary History, published by The White Horse Press, https://www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/publications/global_environment/index.html