The Environmental History of East Asia: Intraregional, Transnational, and Translocal Connections

Abstract

This article explores how the discipline of Environmental History can enhance the coherency of East Asian Studies as a field that is defined by geographical scope and linguistic ability, while simultaneously addressing intra- and transregional currents of people, practices, ideas, and objects. Concurrently, it asks how scholarship focused within East Asia can enrich the practice of Environmental History at local, regional, national, and global scales. The article is organized into four sections followed by a conclusion. The first section considers the nationally-focused synthetic works of Environmental History from which a broader picture of East Asia can be compiled. The following three sections examine different ways of clustering the practice of Environmental History within East Asia. These are: 1) early modern Sinograph texts on pharmacology and natural history; 2) cultural overlays in one locality over time; and 3) movement through space of objects alienated from their original context and people who bear culture-specific practices to different areas. The conclusion considers the challenges of training scholars in an interdisciplinary field with significant language demands.