Programmes: Mountain Knowledge and Action Network
Venue: Online
Date & Time: 09 October 2021 to 15 October 2021
Contact: Chi Huyen Truong
Organizers: Himalayan University Consortium; In partnership with My Climate Risk, a lighthouse activity of World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
Co-hosted by Royal Thimphu College (Royal University of Bhutan) and Yunnan University
Himalayan University Consortium invites applications for a publishing workshop – Storying climes of the Himalaya, Andes, and Arctic: Anthropogenic water bodies, multispecies vulnerability, and sustainable living.
Deadline for submission of abstracts is 25 June 2021.
First draft of paper is due by 8 September 2021.
Details of the publishing workshop are given below.
Context
The Himalaya, the Andes, and the Arctic/tundra play a critical role in the hydrological cycle of the earth with their waters (in both solid and liquid forms), and in shaping multispecies habitats and cultural heritages within the biospheres fed by their waters. At the same time, they are experiencing new risks and degradation due to global climate change, such as melting ice, species extinction, and radical transformations of ecosystems and livelihoods. As a global outreach effort of the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) for comparative studies of climate change in the earth’s altitudinal and latitudinal highlands, this workshop invites social and natural scientists, humanities scholars, graduate students, and development specialists to share their interdisciplinary-intended documentations and discussions of historical and contemporary narratives of climate knowledge in habitat-specific life communities in these three world regions.
Workshop and publication formats
Consisting of 4-5 thematic sessions, the workshop is a combination of thematic keynote talks by prominent scientists and scholars, individual presentations of original research papers, and peer discussions. The workshop organizers are committed to co-exploring the multifaceted meanings of clime and climate change, and creatively co-producing comparative implications from the interdisciplinary thought-exchanges among participants in both theoretical and policy terms. At the conclusion of the workshop, the designated publishing editors will work closely with participants to revise their papers for publication as a journal special issue or an edited book. Please refer the event brochure for details on the keynote speakers and conveners.
Topical themes
Framed by the interconnected topical themes of water bodies (glaciers, lakes, and rivers), multispecies vulnerability (humans, animals, plants, culturally animated landforms, and traditionally revered deities and supernatural beings), and knowledge of sustainable living (local and global), we welcome papers addressing, but not limited to, the following topics contextualized in watery climes: indigenous histories of water, human affective consciousness of water, climate knowledge in indigenous meteorology, local memories as proxies of climate change, local climate knowledge absent the word “climate”, climate incarnate as seasons and weather, mountains as water bodies, the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau as a monsoon maker, geopoetics of glaciers, nonhuman nations/geographies, multispecies relational ontology, the Little Ice Age (1300s-1800s) and human/nonhuman migrations, modern hyperseparation of water and land, anthropogenic effects of modern borders, conservation values of indigenous animistic landforms and water bodies, water as an agent of environmental peacebuilding, and emerging new environmental ethics.
How to answer this call
Submit the title and the abstract of your paper (maximum 500 words) or a complete draft before 25 June 2021 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Preference is given to abstracts/papers that resonate with the workshop’s topical and conceptual themes in the context of global climate change.
The first draft of the paper is due before 8 September 2021 for pre-circulation among participants. As a part of the workshop’s common ground building effort, participants will be provided with a Workshop Reader featuring articles and book chapters reflecting the current interdisciplinary trends and approaches to climate change.
More information
Photo: Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra, Dan Smyer Yü
