Franz Mauelshagen
Affiliate Scholar
In April 2018, Franz Mauelshagen joined the IASS as an Affiliate Scholar.
Until the end of March 2018, Franz Mauelshagen was a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS). He was a member of the research cluster SIWA, Sustainable Interactions with the Atmosphere. His work focuses on the Anthropocene and looks at the implications that this idea has for our understanding of global (environmental) history and modernity, and ist place in the history of great transformations.
Dr. Mauelshagen earned an M.A. in philosophy, history and law from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn (Germany) and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Zurich (Switzerland).
Franz Mauelshagen held postdoctoral positions at the Universities of Bielefeld (2000-2003) and Zurich (2003-2008), and lectured at the Universities of Bielefeld, Zurich, Berne and St. Gallen. In 2008 he became a Research Fellow at the Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut (KWI) / Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, Essen (Germany), where he coordinated the "Climate & Culture" research program. From 2010 until 2014, he was a member of KWI's Board of Directors. In 2013, his dissertation has been awarded a translation grant by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, the German Foreign Office, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, and VG Wort within the framework of their program "Geisteswissenschaften International - Preis zur Förderung der Übersetzung geisteswissenschaftlicher Literatur." He was also awarded a six-month fellowship at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich which he spent there in 2014/15.
History of great transformations; sustainability and resilience in a deep historical perspective; climate history; global environmental history; history of (natural) disasters
Publications at the RIFS
Publications prior to joining the RIFS
- Klimageschichte der Neuzeit 1500-1900 [A Climate History of Modernity, 1500-1900] Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2010
- Historical disasters in context. Science, religion, and politics. Co-editor with Andrea Janku and Gerrit Schenk. London, New York: Routledge, 2012
- "Zivilisatorischer Kollaps in der Geschichte und als Zukunftsszenario" [Collapse of Civilizations in History and as Future Scenario], Review of Geoffrey Parker, Global Crisis: War, Climate Change & Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century, Yale University Press: New Haven, 2013, and Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway, The Collapse of Western Civilization, Columbia University Press: New York, 2014, in GAIA 24/2, 2015, 128-129
- "Die Vergesellschaftung des Hagelrisikos: Zur Geschichte der landwirtschaftlichen Hagelversicherung in der Schweiz 1818-1950" [Socialising the Risk of Hail: The History of Swiss Crop Insurance, 1818-1950]. Traverse 21/3 (2014), 60-72
- "Redefining Historical Climatology in the Anthropocene." The Anthropocene Review 1/2, (2014), 171-204
- "Woven Together: Attachment to Place in the Aftermath of Disaster, Perspectives from Four Countries." (Co-authors: Eleonora Rohland, Maike Böcker, Gitte Cullmann and Ingo Haltermann) In Listening on the Edge: Oral History in the Aftermath of Crisis, edited by M. Cave and S.M. Sloan. Oxford University Press, USA, 2014, 183-208
- "The Irish Famine of 1740-41: Famine Vulnerability and 'Climate Migration'" (with Steven Engler, Juerg Luterbacher and Johannes Werner). Climate of the Past 9 (2013), p. 1161-1179, doi:10.5194/cp-9-1-2013
- "Natural Disasters and Legal Solutions in the History of State Power." Solutions 4 (2013), No. 1, p. 65-68
- "Ungewissheit in der Soziosphäre: Risiko und Versicherung im Klimawandel" [Uncertainty in the Sociosphere: Risk and Insurance in a Changing Climate]. In Unberechenbare Umwelt. Zum Umgang mit Unsicherheit und Nicht-Wissen, edited by R. v. Detten, F. Faber and M. Bemmann. Wiesbaden: Springer-VS, 2013, 253-69
- "Anthropozän - Plädoyer für eine Klimageschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts." Zeithistorische Forschungen 9 (2012), No. 1
- "The Anthropocene: A Case for a Climate History of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries" (English publication of No. 10). Zeithistorische Forschungen 9 (2012), No. 1, online edition
- "Climate catastrophism. The history of the future of climate change". In Historical disasters in context. Science, religion, and politics, edited by A. Janku, F. Mauelshagen and G. Schenk. London, New York: Routledge, 2012, 261-82
- "Sharing the Risk of Hail: Insurance, Reinsurance and the Variability of Hailstorms in Switzerland, 1880-1932". Environment & History 17 (2011), No. 1, 171-91
- "Vom Klima zur Gesellschaft. Klimageschichte im 21. Jahrhundert." [From Climate to Society. Climate History in the 21st Century]. Co-author with Christian Pfister. In KlimaKulturen. Soziale Wirklichkeiten im Klimawandel, edited by H. Welzer, et al., Frankfurt am Main. Campus, 2010, 241-69
- "Ökologische Weltwirtschaft / Ecological World Economy." In: 1. Spiekerooger KlimaGespräche 2009. Oldenburg: Deutscher Buchverlag, 2010, 92-7
- "Die Klimakatastrophe. Szenen und Szenarien." [The Climate Catastrophe. Scenes and Scenarios]. In Katastrophen. Vom Untergang Pompejis bis zum Klimawandel, edited by G.J. Schenk. Stuttgart. Thorbecke, 2009, 205-223, 256-257
- "Disaster and political culture in Germany since 1500." In Natural Disasters, Cultural Responses. Case Studies Toward a Global Environmental History, edited by C. Mauch, and C. Pfister. Lanham, MD. Lexington Books,U.S., 2009, 41-75
- "Keine Geschichte ohne Menschen. Die Erneuerung der historischen Klimawirkungsforschung aus der Klimakatastrophe." [No History without Humans. The Renewal of Historical Climate Impact Research through the Climate Catastrophe]. In Nachhaltige Geschichte. Festschrift für Christian Pfister, edited by A. Kirchhofer, and C. Pfister. Zürich. Chronos, 2009, 169-93
- The Early Debate about Climate Change in Historical Time, The Climates of History (in honour of Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie), German Historical Institute, Paris, France, November 16-17, 2015
- Die Kolonisierung der Zukunft im Anthropozän [The Colonization of the Future in the Anthropocene], Zukunft des 20. Jahrhunderts, Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut, Essen, Germany, October 16-17, 2015
- Anthropozän - Menschengeschichte als Erdgeschichte [The Anthropocene: Human History as Earth History], opening lecture, Ökologie und Humanität: Die Herausforderungen des Anthropozän, Evangelische Akademie, Tutzing, Germany, September 18, 2015
- The Birth of Climatology from the Spirit of the Esprit des Lois, keynote lecture, Ruling Climate: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Governmentality, 1500-1800, University of Warwick, UK, May 16, 2015
- The Anthropozoic Era: History of an Idea, keynote lecture, Religion in the Anthropocene: Challenges, Idolatries, Transformations, EFSRE Conference, Munich, Germany, May 14-17, 2015
- Resilienz in der Geschichte sozial-ökologischer Systeme [Resilience in the History of Social-Ecological Systems], Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, Germany, March 1, 2015
- The Climatological Revolution of the Eighteenth Century, Himmelsstriche. Klima in Kunst, Literatur und Wissenschaft um 1800, Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften (IFK), Vienna, Austria, January 22, 2015
- The Climatological Revolution of the Eighteenth Century, Lunch Time Colloquium, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich, Germany, October 9, 2014
- Zukunft der Klimageschichte - Klimageschichte der Zukunft [The Future of Climate History - Climate History for the Future], keynote lecture, Wissenschaft und Politik des Klimawandels, Junges Kolleg, Akademie der Wissenschaften NRW, Düsseldorf, Germany, March 20, 2014
- Große Transformationen in der Geschichte [Great Transformations in History], keynote lecture, R&Dialogue: Research and Civil Society Dialogue Towards a Low-Carbon Society, Center of Research, Jülich, Germany, March 6, 2014
- The Climates of Colonialism: A Global Perspective, Colonialism and Climate History, Mortara Center for International Studies at Georgetown University, June 6-7, 2013
- The Sociosphere and the Ecodynamics of Normative Systems, Religious and Spiritual Aspects on Climate Engineering, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam, Germany, April 24-26, 2013
- Szenarien - Geschichte der Zukunft II [Scenarios - History of the Future II], Ringvorlesung "Ökologie und die Künste", Graduiertenkolleg InterArt, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, April 18, 2013
- Defining Disaster and Catastrophe, keynote lecture, Catastrophe and Catharsis: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, University of Cincinnati, USA, March 1-3, 2013
- Disaster, Environment and Migration, Fourth International Disaster and Risk Conference, IDRC Davos, Switzerland, August 26-30, 2012
- Human Agency and the "Big History" of Climate Change, First Conference of the International Big History Association (IBHA), Grand Rapids, MI, USA, August 3-5, 2012
- Catastrophe in World History, Global Sustainability Summer School, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, July 19, 2012
- The Climatological Revolution and Colonial History, 1750-1850, First Annual Conference in the World History of Science, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA, May 3, 2012
- From Vegetarian to Ogre: Climate and Historians in the Anthropocene, Climate Change and History Workshop, The University of Chicago, sponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary History, The Early Modern Workshop, and The Energy Policy Institute, Chicago, IL, USA, October 31, 2011
- Communicating Climate Change, keynote lecture, Communicating Civilisations and World Order, 5th International Forum on World Civilisations, SOAS, University of London, UK, September 5-7, 2011
- Climate History of the Anthropocene: Extending the Field of Historical Climatology, Historical Climatology: Past & Future, Conference at the German Historical Institute, Paris, France, September 5-6, 2011
- Social Dynamics and Global Environmental Change: The Climate-Migration Nexus in Context (with Claus Leggewie), Opening Keynote Lecture, Environmental Change and Migration, Research Conference of the European Science Foundation (ESF), Bad Salzuflen, December 2-5, 2010
- Sociosphere: Why we need to better understand the society-environment nexus, Our Common Future, Hannover and Essen, Germany, November 2-6, 2010
- The Future of Historical Climatology, Keynote Lecture, Réunion: Histoire et Climat, Laboratoire des Scienes du Climat et de l'Environnemt, Orme de Merisiers, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, September 24, 2011
- Doctoral Fellow, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (1997-2000)
- Book Translation Prize (Börsenverein, 2013)
- Fellow, Global Young Faculty (2010-11)
- Rachel Carson Fellow (2014-5)