Overview
My research examines how environmental and scientific knowledge is created, contested, and sometimes transformed into actions that shape people's lives. I am especially interested in climate history, environmental history, and the history of science. My book, Uncertain Climes: Debating Climate Change in Gilded Age America (University of Chicago Press, 2023), focuses on the political and cultural dimensions of late nineteenth-century climate change theories. In the book, I argue that contentious debates about human-induced climatic changes shaped not just environmental and scientific thought, but also broader political struggles over the future of expansionism and capitalism.
I teach courses in History, Global Cultural Studies, Sociology, and other topics. Prior to joining DKU, I was a lecturer in the Writing Program at NYU Shanghai.
I teach courses in History, Global Cultural Studies, Sociology, and other topics. Prior to joining DKU, I was a lecturer in the Writing Program at NYU Shanghai.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Assistant Professor of Environmental History at Duke Kunshan University
·
2021 - Present
DKU Faculty
Assistant Professor of the Practice of DKU Studies at Duke University
·
2024 - Present
DKU Studies
Recent Publications
Uncertain Climes Debating Climate Change in Gilded Age America
Book · April 5, 2023 "Drawing on the writings of scientists, foresters, surveyors, and settlers, Joseph Giacomelli shows that climate uncertainty infused Gilded Age thinking about economic growth and national development. ... CiteThe Meaning of Uncertainty: Debating Climate Change in the Gilded-Age United States
Journal Article Environment and History · May 2018 AbstractScholars of American history have sometimes characterised late nineteenth-century theories about anthropogenic climate change as testaments to Manifest Destiny hubris and runaway boosterism. But many Gild ... Full text CiteUnsettling Gilded-Age Science: Vernacular Climatology and Meteorology in the "Middle Border"
Journal Article History of Meteorology · December 1, 2017 Link to item CiteEducation, Training & Certifications
Cornell University ·
2017
Ph.D.