Georgetown Environmental History invites you to attend the next Environment and History Research Seminar (EaHRS) event, which features the work of Professor Abigail Agresta of George Washington University. Professor Agresta will be presenting research from her current book project about natural disaster response and Christian identity in late medieval Valencia.
Date: Monday, September 30, 2019, 2:00-3:30 pm.
Place: Intercultural Center (ICC) 662, Georgetown University, 3700 O st. NW Washington DC, 20057.
Title: "Improvements, by God's Mercy:" Natural Disaster Response and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Valencia.
Abstract: In this talk Dr. Agresta will discuss her current book project, God, Humans, and Nature in Late Medieval Valencia. The book is an analysis of the relationship between God, human beings, and nature, as imagined by the Christian rulers of the religiously mixed city. Based on archival research on Valencia's municipal records from the fourteenth century to the early sixteenth, the book argues that the governing elite moved from a fairly technocratic approach to the environment in the fourteenth century to an overwhelmingly religious one by the mid-fifteenth. This shift away from infrastructure and toward ritual reflected the city's changing relationship with its own Christianity and its crusading past. Reversing the traditional narrative of technological progress, the book shows how religious concerns shaped the governance of the environment in a multi-faith context, with implications for the history of both religion and environment in the pre-modern period.
If you plan to attend and would like a copy of the pre-circulated chapter associated with this presentation, please email Natascha Otoya (nd515@georgetown.edu) or Dylan Proctor (dap129@georgetown.edu).
Date: Monday, September 30, 2019, 2:00-3:30 pm.
Place: Intercultural Center (ICC) 662, Georgetown University, 3700 O st. NW Washington DC, 20057.
Title: "Improvements, by God's Mercy:" Natural Disaster Response and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Valencia.
Abstract: In this talk Dr. Agresta will discuss her current book project, God, Humans, and Nature in Late Medieval Valencia. The book is an analysis of the relationship between God, human beings, and nature, as imagined by the Christian rulers of the religiously mixed city. Based on archival research on Valencia's municipal records from the fourteenth century to the early sixteenth, the book argues that the governing elite moved from a fairly technocratic approach to the environment in the fourteenth century to an overwhelmingly religious one by the mid-fifteenth. This shift away from infrastructure and toward ritual reflected the city's changing relationship with its own Christianity and its crusading past. Reversing the traditional narrative of technological progress, the book shows how religious concerns shaped the governance of the environment in a multi-faith context, with implications for the history of both religion and environment in the pre-modern period.
If you plan to attend and would like a copy of the pre-circulated chapter associated with this presentation, please email Natascha Otoya (nd515@georgetown.edu) or Dylan Proctor (dap129@georgetown.edu).
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