Forests in Revolutionary France, 1669 - 1848

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Dr. Kieko Matteson (UH Mānoa professor of environmental history) will present "Forests in Revolutionary France: Community Sustainability vs. State Conservation, 1669-1848" as the final event in this year's History Workshop series on "Capitalism in Crisis." Prof. Matteson's work explores the long, often violent history of struggle between state and local stakeholders over France's forests in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In an age when wood constituted the single most vital natural resource -- both as the country's main form of energy and as the essential ingredient of buildings, tools, and transportation on land and sea -- the question of who would control access to France's forests and for what ends was a matter of critical social, political, and economic importance. Drawing on research she conducted for her first book, Forests in Revolutionary France: Conservation, Community, and Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Matteson will discuss the rising tensions between customary modes of woodland management, state conservation initiatives, and the growing demands of industry. These conflicts not only influenced French rural politics in the revolutions of 1789 and 1848; they also informed later environmental policymaking around the globe and continue to shape France's physical landscape in the present day.

Event Sponsor
History, Mānoa Campus

More Information
History Workshop, (808) 956-7407, histwork@hawaii.edu

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