HTÆK0104SU TORS, Crisis and Transition: Environmental Humanities in a Global World (Summer School) (S21)

It is becoming increasingly clear that “hard” science alone cannot solve the global environmental problems such as climate change, nature degradation, biodiversity loss etc. In a world where social practices and cultural values, traditions and imaginaries shape and frame the way people lead their lives, our concept of environmentally relevant and crisis-mitigating knowledge must be broadened. Ecological injustice, the interaction between people and new green and old “dirty” technologies, global systems of exchange of knowledge, cross-cultural translations of sustainability policies such as the UN SDGs as well as narratives about and aesthetic expressions of a global crisis are all aspects that call for investigations and solutions from the humanities. 

In this summer school, we will investigate social and cultural aspects of the environmental crisis and sustainable transitions. Specifically, we will explore how methods and theories from the humanities can be mobilized to understand the crisis and facilitate sustainable transitions while at the same time taking into account the particular and varied local, regional and transnational manifestations of the environmental crisis.

Summer school students will be introduced to a selection of relevant theoretical perspectives from within the humanities ranging from anthropology and cultural studies to history and philosophy. The summer school will further train students to employ a range of humanistic methods; ethnographic methods (e.g. participant observation and interviews), discourse analysis, and visual analysis.

During the summer school, a core team of researchers alongside selected guest lecturers will guide students through methods and theories. While lectures from professionals and field trips to organizations working with environmental crisis-mitigation and sustainable transitions in society at large will give students a practitioner’s perspective.

Thus, students will engage with a broad range of actors both inside and outside the university and will be trained in applying their theoretical and methodological knowledge in practice through group projects.

NOTE! The summer school will accommodate both physical and online participation. The physical participation will allow the students to experience the intense social and academic environment of a summer school. Online participation will allow students that are prevented from participating physically (due to, for example, COVID19 travel restrictions, lack of travel funds etc.) to attend the course. Physical and online participation will be valued equally.