This term, CEH is taking a tentative step outside the boxes of Zoom and the cuboids of Nobelparken to hold some in-person, outdoor events in locations around Aarhus. Interested in re-sparking conviviality amongst colleagues old and new, these talks aim for an informal atmosphere with an academic focus, exploring Aarhus’ environments through a humanities lens. The first will be held down at the port, around Aarhus Ø (exact location TBA), and will focus on the sea as a shaper of the city in which we live and work. It will feature a talk by historian Annette Skovsted Hansen (details below).

Maersk Group shipping shaping Aarhus Port and Tema Port in Ghana
The Danish company Maersk is the largest shipping line in the world and has built its empire on global shipping. APM Terminals, which is part of the Maersk Group, has contributed to the establishment of terminals for container ships in many parts of the world, including Aarhus Port and more recently Tema Port in Ghana. The talk will focus on the linkages between global shipping interests and reliable ports in key locations and how global shipping, therefore, affects local communities and the concrete shape of ports with specific focus on Aarhus and Tema. As an historian, Hansen will emphasize changes and continuities over the past 100 years.

Annette Skovsted Hansen is Associate Professor of Japan’s and Global history at Aarhus University. The past three years, she has led a research project about Tema Port in Ghana with Ghanaian and Danish researchers. The project is financed by the Danish Foreign Ministry. ASH also leads a network project about the ports of Aarhus, Haifa, and Kobe. She is spokesperson for the Association of Development Researchers in Denmark and a member of the Consultative Committee on Development Research at the Danish Foreign Ministry. In the 1990s, she worked as international staff at United Nations Headquarters in New York. She has an MA from Columbia University and a PhD from University of Copenhagen.

This event has been postponed. A new date will follow.