The Critical Ecologies research stream (as part of Technologies, Worlds, Politics) recently held a full day of inaugural activities on Saturday, March 17th. The stream includes VisCult staff Wood Roberdeau, Lynn Turner, Nicole Wolf and Susan Schuppli.
The group is pursuing ongoing research related to questions of global warming, environmental justice, colonial dispossession, climate migration, nuclear cultures, media geology and e-waste from an arts and humanities perspective that takes scientific research and practices seriously.
The stream formalises connections between existing areas of research and practice by bringing together established environment-focused initiatives from across Anthropology, Art, English & Comparative Literature, Media & Communications, Sociology, and Visual Cultures/Research Architecture to develop collaborations, funding bids, and curricula.
Their core aspiration is to evolve new academic platforms capable of shaping public debate.
Critical Ecologies invited representatives from local communities and organisations to present their work and form a space for planning and discussion with an aim to address eco-critical theory and questions of cultivation.
Elizabeth A. Povinelli (Columbia University) delivered the keynote lecture entitled The Toxic Earth and The Collapse of Political Concepts.
Critical Ecologies will be launching their own blog in the near future. Watch this space for future activities.