A Two-Day Symposium at The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh
Ecology and economy are inextricable. From the ‘oeconomy of nature’ theorized by Thomas Burnet, and later Carl Linnaeus, to the recent turn in the social sciences that reconsiders the Anthropocene as the Capitalocene, the interwoven global history of these two fields of thought makes their conceptual separation impracticable.
This two-day symposium considers the roles of cultural production and critique under these conditions of inextricability. It takes as its locus the North American world. We use the term North American world to denote the world-view as conceived by or through North American social conditions, governance, cultures, politics, and institutions, but which is global in its influences and effects. Scholars working in Anglophone universities, primarily in the United States, have dominated discussions on the role that the humanities should play in the theorization of and response to global environmental and economic crises. Amidst a ‘crisis in the humanities’ in Western higher education, many scholars have responded by directing their methods and knowledge towards resisting processes of environmental degradation and/or capitalist exploitation, in order to turn the humanities to the resolution of pressing global problems. This has also led to the rise of new forms of activist-scholarship, which seek to advocate for the political and social agency, and social relevance, of the humanities disciplines.
This symposium will explore the implications of presuming the resistant power of the humanities, and the agency of its scholarship and pedagogy, in environmental and economic fields. In two keynote talks and nine panel presentations, our speakers will explore a myriad of ways in which North American culture, politics, and history provides an insight into the interlinked global concerns of capitalist exploitation, ecological degradation, and climate change.
Keynotes:
Thursday 29th June 2017, 2-3.30pm
Professor Regenia Gagnier, University of Exeter,
“Transcultural Political Languages”
Friday 30th June, 4-5.30pm
Professor Stephen Shapiro, University of Warwick,
“Representation or Registration?: The cultural fix and a post-semiotic eco-marxism”
REGISTRATION
The symposium is free to attend, and delegates are welcome regardless of institutional status or background.
To register your intention to attend, please email either of the organisers:
Dr Sarah Daw: Sarah.Daw@ed.ac.uk
Dr Benjamin Pickford: Benjamin.Pickford@ed.ac.uk
In your email, please specify:
– The days you will attend (29 June, 30 June, or both 29-30)
– Any dietary requirements (lunch will be provided on both days)
– Your institutional affiliation, or, if you are not currently affiliated, a brief statement of the themes and ideas covered by the symposium which are of interest to you.
For further information, please email the symposium organisers or visit the website:
http://oikoiofthenorthamericanworld.weebly.com
Organised in collaboration with the Edinburgh Environmental Humanities Network and Human-Business Edinburgh
