L’histoire des forêts au défi de l’histoire globale : perspectives de recherche depuis la France et l’Allemagne

Abstract

In France, as in Germany, the integration between global history and forest history is still in its infancy. Research at the regional or the nation-state level is still the norm and consideration of processes such as circulation, exchange and connections at the global, continental, transnational or even cross-border level is still not very common. However, advances in this direction could not only provide a better understanding of the evolution of forest environments and their uses throughout history, but also challenge a number of generally accepted ideas. The chapter thus has a threefold objective : (1) to provide an overview of the empirical elements attested in the existing literature and on the basis of which new global narratives could be built ; (2) to suggest complementary research perspectives and highlight possible gaps or methodological biases that still need to be tackled ; (3) to discuss the fruitfulness of the Franco-German comparison as an element in structuring global narratives in forest history. Without claiming to be exhaustive, this inventory concentrates on three already identifiable areas: the question of the circulation of forest knowledge, that of commercial exchanges, and finally that of waves of labour and settlement migrations.