Theoretical Approaches to Ecological-Cultural Change

Dates & timetable:

“Approaches” introduces interdisciplinary perspectives and core areas for analysing the material and cultural dimensions of contemporary crises, such as the climate crisis and environmental degradation, as well as their socio-cultural and economic effects. The module comprises a lecture series and seminar covering a wide range of academic fields and perspectives such as: literary and cultural studies, ecological economics, media and ecology/sustainability, agrarian and landscape economics, education, and maritime ecology.

A special focus is placed on core theories of environmental humanities and (literary) ecocriticism, and how these intersect with, for instance, postcolonial approaches, human-animal studies, or Indigenous studies.

In hearing from, and discussing with lecturers from various departments, students learn to recognise and differentiate between core academic fields, topics, and concepts in the ever-developing domains of ecological sustainability, eco-cultural change.

Description:

This interdisciplinary lecture will provide students an insight into various theoretical and disciplinary approaches to topics such as culture, ecology, sustainability, change, and their interdependencies. Each week a different lecturer will present an introduction to these topics from their respective disciplinary perspective. Contributing fields may include literary and cultural studies, philosophy, law, political science, landscape ecology, marine biology, agrarian ecology, classical philology, and archaeology. External experts will round off the program.

The aim is to enable students to identify different methods and analytical frameworks for critically engaging with the material and cultural dimensions of global climate and ecological crises, their historical and sociological dimensions, and the solutions proposed by each field. The “cultural” topics, at the intellectual center of this program include human-animal relations, energy cultures, literary ecocriticism, Indigenous and postcolonial approaches to ecological sustainability, and critiques of environmental racism.

The lectures will help students become familiar with the various tools for analyzing the current cultural-ecological situation within a global context, and for thinking creatively about its temporal dimension, including its history and its future.

Learning outcomes:

Subject-related competences

• Knowledge of different disciplines dedicated to sustainability research and their methodologies, principles and working methods
• Ability to critically compare and contrast different disciplinary methods
• Acquisition of knowledge of interdisciplinary methods (textual and cultural studies, ecological studies, history and social sciences, education) and first research-led application with regard to cultural-ecological topics and objects
• Description and critical analysis of historical and contemporary interdisciplinary issues relating to ecology, sustainability and cultural change in a global perspective
  Methodological competences
• Ability to analyse historical and contemporary issues relating to ecology, sustainability and cultural change and their representations
• Ability to reflect on the theory of science in relation to interdisciplinary work on sustainability
• Knowledge and ability to analyse common models and statistics from other subject areas
• Cultural-scientific and text-critical analysis and interpretation of the above-mentioned phenomena and their media representations
  Interdisciplinary competences:
• Ability to transfer subject-specific theories and methods to objects and issues in related humanities and natural science subjects
• Ability to integrate various specialist skills
• Core qualifications:
• Methodological awareness
• Analysis and transfer skills
• Interdisciplinary thinking and cooperation
• Networked thinking
• Communication and reflection on one’s own discipline

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