Julia Nordblad

I work as associate professor (lektor) and specialize in the intellectual and political history of the current ecological crisis, especially its temporal aspects. I currently work on two projects. The first examines the political history of the concept of biodiversity. The second examines the history of ecological economics as political thought, 1980–2000.

I earned my PhD in Intellectual History from the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, University of Gothenburg in April 2013 with a thesis entitled The Conditions of Equality: Demos, Empire and Pedagogy in Brittany, Tunisia, Torne Valley and Lapland, 1880–1925

I have been a visiting fellow at Sciences Po, Paris (spring 2018), and at EHESS, Paris (spring 2015). I was a visiting scholar at the Department of French and Romance Philology, Columbia University, NYC in 2009/2010. I will spend the fall semester 2023 as a guest researcher at Center for Applied Ecological Thinking (CApE), University of Copenhagen.

Research interests

I have a broad interest in environmental intellectual history and have worked specifically on environmental themes in the the history of economic thought seen as part of a broader political intellectual history. I often deploy perspectives from conceptual history, a field in which political concepts are seen both as arenas for conflict and conveyors of tradition. I have focused specifically environmental concepts, especially the concepts of 'biodiversity' and 'ecosystem services', and 'future generations'. I also take an interest in political temporalities, long termism in political thought and rhetoric and political conceptions of the future in environmental debates in since the 1970s. I have also worked on the history of political concepts such as 'representation' and 'general interest', especially in French forestry debate in the first half of the 19th century.

Awards

2017 Kurt Aspelin Foundation Grant (Stipendiet ur Kurt Aspelins minnesfond)

2014 Clio Award (Cliopriset)

2013 Övralid Foundation Kate Bang Award (Stiftelsen Övralids pris till Kate Bangs minne)

2013 Per Nyström Award (Per Nyströms vetenskapspris)