Skip to main content

Joseph Nereo Giacomelli

Assistant Professor of Environmental History at Duke Kunshan University
DKU Faculty

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.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Assistant Professor of Environmental History at Duke Kunshan University · 2021 - Present DKU Faculty, Duke Kunshan University

Education, Training & Certifications


Cornell University · 2017 Ph.D.