Ralf Futselaar

@ralffutselaar.bsky.social

Historian

Very excited to be traveling to York next month to discuss #worms, #bedbugs, and other unwanted critters 🪱🪳 #animalhistory

Northern Environmental History Network @northernenvhistory.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Firstly, we have a really exciting workshop comming up in April in York, with a deadline for the #CfP on the 31/01! The theme is 'Yuck: Historical Approaches to Unwanted Non-Human Life', considering unwanted life as historically produced, its sources, and the future of more-than-human-histories 2/4

Call for papers, Northern Environmental History Network in-person workshop. 'Yuck: Historical Approaches to Unwanted Non-Human Life'. Humanities Research Centre, Uni of York 09-10/04/2026

This two day workshop will bring together researchers of all career stages and various disciplines to discuss the historical production and perception of categories of unwanted non-human life, such as weeds, vermin, and germs. Our aim is to facilitate wide ranging, critical discussions through a series of themes and research questions; beginning with an overarching inquiry into how unwanted life is historically produced, followed by considerations of the conceptual problems this research faces, and ending with reflections on the future of this nascent field. Each theme (outlined in more detail below) will be
discussed in break-out groups over the course of the 2 days, and participants would be expected to prepare a reflection (up to five minutes) on each theme in advance. The workshop will also feature two keynote papers. This is an in-person only event. To facilitate
attendance for unfunded PGRs, we hope to provide a limited amount of financial support.

Workshop Themes and Questions: 
1 - Producing the Unwanted 
What material and discursive practices are involved in the production of unwanted natures? How do they, and their production, differ across historical contexts?
2 - Agency
How can the agency of non-humans be historicised, and related to the production of unwanted life? What issues does an emphasis on agency raise, especially as regards the operation of power in the categorisation of non-human life as unwanted?
3 - Source Material and Archives
What demands do these different sources make on historians? How do archival practices contribute to the construction of unwanted life? How does non-human life relate to the archive?
4 - Future of the Field 
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