Timothy LeCain on “Japanese and American Mining Cultures: A Comparison”
Timothy LeCain, Carson Fellow from September 2011 to May 2012, discusses his comparative history of Japanese and American copper mining.
animals
"Goats, Marginality and the 'Dangerous Other'"
Scrubland grazing by the omnivorous goat could reduce the risk of widespread fires. But goat populations have been controlled by bans and restrictions for many centuries. The political, economic and cultural reasons why the animal had such an unsavoury reputation are explored.
"The Fall and Fall in the Legal Status of Mustelids in New Zealand"
Three species of the family Mustelidae (stoats, weasels and ferrets) were initially introduced into New Zealand (and granted statutory protection) in an attempt to control a burgeoning rabbit population…
"'Ruined and Lost': Spanish Destruction of the Pearl Coast in the Early Sixteenth Century"
Using Garrett Hardin’s concept of the ‘tragedy of the commons’, this article examines Spanish overexploitation of both the oyster beds around the island of Cubagua and the native peoples along the mainland by competing groups of Spaniards.
"Poisonous Plants, Pastoral Knowledge and Perceptions of Environmental Change in South Africa, c. 1880–1940"
The paper discusses the expansion of toxicological and ecological knowledge about the grasslands of South Africa and explores some of the measures put forward to encourage more sustainable animal husbandry.
"Bodies on the Beach: Domesticates and Disasters in the Spanish Philippines 1750–1898"
This paper attempts to assess the extent of domestic livestock loss occasioned by natural hazard especially flood as well as the impact their deaths had on human communities.
"For the 'Preservation of Friends' and the 'Destruction of Enemies:' Studying and Protecting Birds in Late Imperial Russia"
This paper surveys major developments in the Imperial Russian history of wild bird protection and related issues of ornithology during the century or so leading up to the First World War.
"'An Enemy of the Rabbit:' The Social Context of Acclimatisation of an Immigrant Killer"
The importation providing the focus of this paper is that of members of the family Mustelidae, specifically weasels, ferrets and stoats.
"The History (1620–2003) of Land Use, People and Livestock, and the Relationship to Present Plant Species Diversity in a Rural Landscape in Sweden"
The objectives of this study were to describe changes in land use during c. 350 years in a Swedish agricultural landscape in relation to changes in human population and livestock, and to analyse relationships between historical land use and present-day plant species diversity.
"Bowhead Whales in the Eastern Arctic, 1611–1911: Population Reconstruction with Historical Whaling"
Allen, Robert C., and Ian Keay. “Bowhead Whales in the Eastern Arctic, 1611–1911: Population Reconstruction with Historical Whaling.” Environment and History 12, no. 1 (Feb., 2006): 89–113. doi:10.3197/097634006776026791. As early as 1611 bowhead whales resident between the east coast of Greenland and the island of Spitzbergen were the subject of intensive commercial hunting effort by Dutch, German and British whalers. By 1911 there was no significant, permanent population of bowhead whales living in these waters.