‘Ecology and Belonging’ workshop

Where: University for Humanistic Studies, room 1.40

A dialogue with researchers from the University of Humanistic Studies and the Ecology and Belonging Theme Group from the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS-KNAW). Speakers include: Christoph Henning, Daan Oostveen, Hans Alma, and Julien van Vugt.

Abstract

Environmental politics is weighed down by questions of belonging. Activists insist that we need to find new and deeper ways of connecting to the more-than-human world. They often draw on readings of indigenous and non-Western perspectives. At the same time, across the world and independently of political ideology movements are claiming that both climate change and our responses to it are presenting a threat to their homes.

Meanwhile, the far right is drawing on people’s sense of insecurity to deepen and entrench social and environmental exploitation. In this context, the Ecology and Belonging Workshop looks for ways of conceiving and performing belonging that might 1) advance environmental justice 2) rival far-right narratives 3) remain open to newcomers. Drawing together research into indigeneity, decoloniality, conservatism, and fascism, we interrogate the relationship between cultural and material dimensions of belonging.

Contact

Timothy Stacey, t.stacey@uvh.nl