The Research Institute for the Humanities will host a two-day conference on 6-7 Dec 2018, gathering scholars from CUHK and institutes across the world. Scholars will share their work as part of their effort to foster interdisciplinary conversation and learning. Presenters will bring a humanities perspective to the understanding of landscapes, empires, imagined environments, and the boundaries of nature and humanity.

Environmental humanities involves human beings and non-humans (animals, plants, minerals, objects, etc.), as well as a certain number of critical positions (post-capitalism, post-humanism, post-colonialism, rejection of anthropocentrism, distance with constructivism) that deserve to be discussed and confronted. The objective is to enrich pre-existing conjunctions across environmental philosophy, environmental history, ecocriticism (cultural geography, cultural anthropology and political ecology, including their debates as captured by environmental humanities. These alliances could help build environmental humanities across regions, environments, and animals.

To contribute to such debates, the Conference will focus on seven broadly formulated topics and questions:

1. The Management of Nature in the Ancient World
2. Eco-Humanities: History, Narratives and Reflections
3. Body and Nature
4. Religion and Environment
5. The High North: Arctic Encounters
6. Nature at the Point of No Return? Philosophical Reflections
7. Survival of the Fittest: A Historical Perspective