Specialization in Environmental and Landscape History (ELHS)

I. Aims

Interest in the complex relationship between human society and the way people interact with natural and culturally manipulated environments which surround them has steadily grown since the end of World War II. The study of landscape has always occupied a key research position in the study of the ways in which present day and past societies interacted with their environment. In the United States and Western Europe, the fields of environmental and landscape history and have slowly started to become integrated with mainstream history and archaeology.

The idea of placing people and nature in a historical perspective has become common currency in historical research in the United States and Western Europe where it has been recognized that archaeological materials provide the time depth necessarily lacking in studies of present day situations. However, the idea of integrating biological data into studies of past human society is only a relatively recent development in Central and Eastern Europe. A historical long-term perspective on the way human behavior effects the environment and the way human society is affected both short and long term by the interplay of cultural norms and the surrounding environment is critical for understanding some present day processes as well. The department’s specialization is aimed at students interested in environmental history, bioarchaeology and landscape studies. The emphasis will be on the study of biological and actual landscape features and in the many different culturally-based factors that influenced perception, choice and attitudes in medieval times.

CEU has established an official framework for co-operation with the Budapest Historical Museum and signed an agreement to work together on the development of a bioarchaeology laboratory, a base where trained individuals can examine faunal and botanical materials from the excavations of the Budapest Historical Museum.

At the same time, faculty appointments in the Departments of History and Medieval Studies offer the possibility to integrate environmental history into the curriculum of our educational program.

II. Requirements

In order to receive a certificate of attendance in the ELHS together with the degree proper, the following requirements need to be fulfilled:

1. Admission to the Department of History or the Department of Medieval Studies of CEU.

2. Based on the required 40 credits to obtain an MA degree in one of these two departments, the students of the ELHS must gain 10 elective credits out of the seminars listed by the ELHS from the offerings of the two departments, and on top of this they must earn 4 mandatory credits offered by ELHS. In addition, they have to write their thesis (8 credits) on an environment or landscape related topic with either the first or the second supervisor of the student belonging to this Specialization (see list below).

III. Faculty in charge and study areas

The program is mainly based on the contribution of faculty members in the Medieval Studies Department. One significant aspect will be taught by Lajos Rácz (Department of History). Faculty members of the Department of Environmental Study and Policy may be asked to co-supervise topics and MA theses with relevant research aspects for their expertise (sustainable development issues, historical-environmental studies and their impact on recent issues, etc.).

Alice Choyke (Department of Medieval Studies): Bioarchaeology, environmental archaeology, interdisciplinary research methodology (including natural sciences). Co-organizer of the Medieval Animal Data-network (MAD) described below.

Gerhard Jaritz (Department of Medieval Studies): Perception and image of historical landscapes, people and nature in textual and pictorial sources. Co-organizer of the Medieval Animal Data-network (MAD) described below.

József Laszlovszky (Department of Medieval Studies): Landscape archaeology and landscape history, people and nature in historical contexts.

Balázs Nagy (Department of Medieval Studies): Economic history and its environmental aspects, crisis and development in medieval societies.

Lajos Rácz (Department of History): Environmental history, history of climatic changes.

Katalin Szende (Department of Medieval Studies): Local history and urban landscape, settlement and urban hinterlands.

IV. Curriculum

Mandatory courses

Environmental History in the Middle Ages and Early-Modern Times  –  Lajos Rácz

Environmental and Landscape history – lectures series by resident faculty

1. Environmental archaeology, bioarchaeology – historiography and recent trends – Alice Choyke
2. Environmental archaeology, bioarchaeology – methods and approaches – Alice Choyke
3. People and nature interaction: animals and their zooarchaeological study – Alice Choyke
4. People and nature interaction: animals and their visual representations – Gerhard Jaritz
5. People and nature interaction: animals and settlements – József Laszlovszky
6. People and nature interaction: animals in urban landscapes – Katalin Szende
7. Landscape archaeology – historiography and recent trends – József Laszlovszky
8. Landscape archaeology – methods and approaches – József Laszlovszky
9. Cultural landscapes, historical landscapes – images of landscapes – Gerhard Jaritz
10.  Cultural landscapes, historical landscapes – monastic landscapes – József Laszlovszky
11. Heritage sites and historical landscapes – issues of research and presentation – Alice Choyke
12. Management plans and sustainable development of historical landscape sites – József Laszlovszky

Optional courses:

- Animals in historical context – Alice Choyke, Gerhard Jaritz

- Settlements and their landscape setting  - József Laszlovszky, Katalin Szende

- Bioarchaeological methodology – Alice Choyke

- Climatic history and its historical sources - Lajos Rácz

- Man made landscapes, images of landscapes – Gerhard Jaritz

- Environmental policy and historical landscapes (cultural landscape, cultural

   heritage) – József Laszlovszky

- Monastic culture – József Laszlovszky