Spatial History

 

In spring 2018, the spatial history working group, organized by Dr. Katja Wezel, met bi-weekly discussing important themes and texts in spatial history. The members of the group were PhD-students and professors from Pitt and CMU. Usually, of those attending, half came from Pitt and half from CMU. While the group had a focus on historical GIS and its role in historical research, they did not exclusively read articles that use GIS as a methodological approach. For instance, they also read and discussed the spatial history classic The Road to Botany Bay by Paul Carter. One important aim of the reading group was to track the development of the field. They reported interesting patterns emerge when comparing articles published in CUP’s Social Science History in the last fifteen years. Several members of the group, who use historical GIS and/or see their own research projects as influenced or driven by spatial history, presented their work and received feedback.