NEH Manuscript Prep: Fire Humanities

FAIN: RZ-300120-24

University of Idaho (Moscow, ID 83844-9803)
Jennifer K. Ladino (Project Director: November 2023 to present)

Research and writing leading to an edited book that explores the history of fire management and the issue of wildfires.

Fire Humanities: Theory and Practice is a new book of original scholarship that names and launches an emergent disciplinary field. This edited collection brings together fourteen contributors to grapple with the theoretical contributions that the humanities can make to our understanding of wildfire, including the stories, emotions, and representations that shape public perception. Via a series of nine workshops facilitated by fire practitioners that provide contributors with specific ecological, artistic, or epistemological prompts for engaging with a fire-prone landscape in their home region, the book thinks self-reflexively about the humanities in an increasingly burning world. We will submit a proposal to an academic publisher by May of 2026, with publication to follow in 2027. The volume will provide a much-needed resource for fire researchers, practitioners, and teachers and a roadmap for innovative interdisciplinary humanities work in our current moment of ecological crisis.