The seminar will critically examine the discursive history of the Anthropocene. It gives an overview of debates on the Anthropocene narrative and its transdisciplinary framework. A global history approach to these debates arises as a substantial contribution to better analyze global processes of exploitation of natural resources, territorial dispossession and imperialism.

The seminar explores insects as historical actors and their diverse interactions with human societies over time and space. It offers an overview of recent approaches in environmental history and multispecies ethnography while providing an analytical framework to understand global processes of natural resource exploitation, knowledge formation, and imperialism.

The seminar explores the history of life sciences in contexts of agricultural development during the 20th century. It offers an overview of recent approaches in global history and environmental humanities while providing an analytical framework to understand global processes of natural resource exploitation, scientific innovation, knowledge formation, and imperialism.

The seminar will explore debates around a new field of historical inquiry framed as “planetary history.” It will focus on recent publications, trace theoretical and historiographical genealogies, and critically engage with questions about the possibilities of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to historical research.

The seminar presents the current state of public debates and curatorial practices regarding the history of scientific collections and natural history museums. It offers an overview of recent approaches in public history, with a focus on decolonial strategies, while providing critical and practical tools to reflect on museum history and develop future projects in this direction.