Night Matters—Why the Interdisciplinary Field of “Night Studies” Is Needed
by
Christopher C.M. Kyba 1,2,*
, Sara B. Pritchard 3, A. Roger Ekirch 4, Adam Eldridge 5, Andreas Jechow 1,2,*, Christine Preiser 6, Dieter Kunz 7, Dietrich Henckel 8, Franz Hölker 2,9, 
John Barentine 10,11, Jørgen Berge 12,13, Josiane Meier 8, Luc Gwiazdzinski 14, Manuel Spitschan 15,16,17, Mirik Milan 18, Susanne Bach 19, Sibylle Schroer 2 and Will Straw 20
Christopher C.M. Kyba 1,2,*, Sara B. Pritchard 3, A. Roger Ekirch 4, Adam Eldridge 5, Andreas Jechow 1,2,*, Christine Preiser 6, Dieter Kunz 7, Dietrich Henckel 8, Franz Hölker 2,9, John Barentine 10,11, Jørgen Berge 12,13, Josiane Meier 8, Luc Gwiazdzinski 14, Manuel Spitschan 15,16,17, Mirik Milan 18, Susanne Bach 19, Sibylle Schroer 2 and Will Straw 20
1
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam 14473, Germany
2
Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin 12587, Germany
3
Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
4
Department of History, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
5
The School of Social Sciences, University of Westminster, London W1W 7BY, UK
6
Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Universität Augsburg, 86159 Augsburg, Germany
7
St. Hedwig-Hospital, 10115 Berlin, Germany
8
Institute for Urban and Regional Planning, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
9
Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
10
International Dark-Sky Association, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
11
Consortium for Dark Sky Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
12
Faculty for Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
13
Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
14
Géographe, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38100 Grenoble, France
15
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
16
Centre for Chronobiology, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel (UPK), 4002 Basel, Switzerland
17
Transfaculty Research Platform Molecular and Cognitive Neurosciences (MCN), University of Basel, 4055 Basel, Switzerland
18
VibeLab, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
19
Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Kassel, 34125 Kassel, Germany
20
Department of Art History and Communications Studies, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
J 2020, 3(1), 1-6; https://doi.org/10.3390/j3010001
Received: 20 December 2019 / Revised: 7 January 2020 / Accepted: 9 January 2020 / Published: 10 January 2020
The night has historically been neglected in both disciplinary and interdisciplinary research. To some extent, this is not surprising, given the diurnal bias of human researchers and the difficulty of performing work at night. The night is, however, a critical element of biological, chemical, physical, and social systems on Earth. Moreover, research into social issues such as inequality, demographic changes, and the transition to a sustainable economy will be compromised if the night is not considered. Recent years, however, have seen a surge in research into the night. We argue that “night studies” is on the cusp of coming into its own as an interdisciplinary field, and that when it does, the field will consider questions that disciplinary researchers have not yet thought to ask.
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Keywords:
night; night science; night studies; nyctology; interdisciplinary studies
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MDPI and ACS Style
Kyba, C.C.; Pritchard, S.B.; Ekirch, A.R.; Eldridge, A.; Jechow, A.; Preiser, C.; Kunz, D.; Henckel, D.; Hölker, F.; Barentine, J.; Berge, J.; Meier, J.; Gwiazdzinski, L.; Spitschan, M.; Milan, M.; Bach, S.; Schroer, S.; Straw, W. Night Matters—Why the Interdisciplinary Field of “Night Studies” Is Needed. J 2020, 3, 1-6.
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