Call for Panels
2025 ISCH conference:
‘Human/Nature – Entanglements in Cultural History’
16–19 June 2025, Rovaniemi, Finland
Cultural history has mainly studied humans: their actions, experiences, and ways of thinking. Yet the past is not shaped by only human actions and thoughts. Human beings inevitably interact with the nature surrounding them, which further means that history has not been shaped by human agency alone, but by the actions of various living and non-living beings. Some research has already been conducted in the field of cultural history within environmental history, as well as multispecies and/or more-than-human history, exploring, for instance, the historical relationships between humans and animals, plants, or landscapes.
Another relevant topic of discussion in this field is the relationship between historical research and emerging epistemological and ontological approaches questioning human-centered understandings of “culture”, ”community,” or “agency.” These approaches challenge traditional assumptions that emphasize the dominance of human agency. These openings raise intriguing philosophical questions which urge us as historians to reassess our theoretical and methodological assumptions concerning e.g. culture, temporality, and working with the sources. Furthermore, these questions are crucial when considering current environmental challenges, such as the biodiversity loss threatening the planet.
The ISCH 2025 conference thus invites panels exploring human-nature entanglements from diverse angles.
Kindly note that the CFP process for the ISCH 2025 conference is divided into two phases. The first phase is for panel proposals, and the second phase for individual papers to be proposed to accepted panels.
Panels may focus on empirical case studies and/or theoretical, methodological, and (onto-)epistemological discussions. Historians and contextually oriented scholars working on any period or location are encouraged to explore (but are by no means limited to) the following topics:
· Human-nature interaction as part of cultural history
· Representations of human-nature entanglements
· Cultural history of environments (including built environments and bodies as environments)
· Multispecies history (e.g., animals, plants, microbial & non-living beings)
· Cultural history in relation to non-anthropocentric theories (e.g. posthumanism)
· Multidisciplinary approaches and openings
As always, we also welcome panel proposals and abstracts on methods and theories of cultural history, new approaches to cultural history, and the history of cultural history.
Propose a panel by sending a short, max 300 words, description to isch2025@gmail.com, on the 15th of November at the latest.
We welcome proposals for open and closed panels.
Please indicate if your panel will be open for the submission of papers. In a closed panel proposal, please provide the names of 3–5 confirmed panelists.
Panel convenors are responsible for selecting the panelists/abstracts/individual papers, and chairing the panel in the conference.
Please name a minimum of two convenors for each panel. Regarding convenors, we encourage diversity in terms of geographic location and academic career stage.
The call for individual papers starts on the 2nd of December.
The schedule for CFP is as follows:
Call for panels: 1 October – 15 November
Notification of acceptance for panels by 25 November
Call for individual papers: 2 December – 31 January
Notification of acceptance for papers by 28 February
Conference website: isch2025.com
Anna-Leena Perämäki
Jasmin Lukkari