Apr 21, 2021
Agriculture and the Making of Sciences, 1100-1700
- 14:00 to 15:15
- Primary Source Reading Group
- Dept. III
In conjunction with our "year of soil," the theme of this month's readings are on the sciences of soil. The topic of soil has been a major area study for agricultural and environmental historians—much less so for historians of science. In this month's readings, we will orient ourselves with soil as a topic of historical study, probe what types of questions historians of science should be asking about soil, and introduce ourselves to the local knowledges of soil in various parts of the world in the premodern world.
Readings
- J.R. McNeill and Verena Winiwarter, "Soil, Soil Knowledge and Environmental History: An Introduction," in Soils and Societies: Perspectives from Environmental History, eds., J.R. McNeill and Verena Winiwarter (Isle of Harris: White Horse Press, 2006), pp. 1-6.
- Robert S. Shiel, "An Introduction to Soil Nutrient Flows," in Soils and Societies: Perspectives from Environmental History, eds., J.R. McNeill and Verena Winiwarter (Isle of Harris: White Horse Press, 2006), pp. 7-12.
- Jonathan A. Sandor, et al., "The Heritage of Soil Knowledge among the World's Cultures," in Footprints in the Soil: People and Ideas in Soil History, ed., Benno P. Warkentin (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006), pp. 43-84.
Contact and Registration
Everyone is welcome to join, though we ask the non-MPIWG participants who are not already on the RG mailing list to register in advance. For registration or any questions about the seminar please contact Justin Niermeier-Dohoney (jniermeier@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).
About This Series
"Agriculture and the Making of Sciences, 1100-1700" is a monthly secondary source reading group devoted to exploring the role agriculture played in the development of the sciences, broadly construed, across Eurasia in the premodern and early modern periods. As the most common form of labor across the globe prior to industrialization, agriculture is uniquely suited for the examination of the historical emergence of technologies, methods, and materials for making sense of the natural world. Through these readings, we aim to interrogate the ways that historical figures adopted, transferred, transformed, and circulated agricultural knowledge and practices in ways that contributed to the development of the sciences.