Between April 23 and June 18, the project IberLAND hosts the lecture series ‘Between Eden and Fall: Common Land in Early Modern and Modern Western Europe‘. This series aims to provide an overview of common land in the early modern and modern ages in several Western European regions through the work of five senior researchers in the field, who will deliver their lectures every two weeks, followed by discussions.

The lectures take place every other week, between 18:00 and 20:00 CEST and will be broadcast via Zoom. Prior registration is required through this link.

Find more information and program below the image

Since the publication of Garrett Hardin’s seminal article ‘The tragedy of the commons‘ in 1968, land and other resources held in common have been the object of intensive research and debate. What were the commons? How did they work? What were the rules and norms that operated in their management? Were they socially and environmentally sustainable? Why did they disappear? What were the consequences of their privatisation? Historians and other social scientists have provided answers to these and other questions by addressing the management of the commons from different perspectives and disciplines, ranging from economics to law, from the environmental dimension of the commons to the cultural issues attached to them. Historians have offered insights into the evolution of the commons from the Middle Ages to the modern era, emphasising the importance of historical factors to understand the commons today.

23 April – Tine de Moor (Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University)
The Commons as a Form of Institution for Collective Action, in Longitudinal Perspective

7 May – Angus Winchester (Lancaster University) – Open Zoom
Changing Conceptions of Common Land in Britain across the 19th Century

21 May – Niels Grüne (Innsbruck University)
Commons in Context: Collective Resources in German Rural Societies (18th and 19th Centuries)

4 June – José Miguel Lana Berasáin (Public Univ. Navarre)
“Clearly Defined Boundaries”, Inclusiveness, and (In)Equality in the Spanish Commons

18 June – Margarida Sobral Neto (University of Coimbra)
The Commons in Portugal: Forms of Use and Governance