300450 Science and Politics of the Anthropocene (MA: Politische Soziologie) (S) (WiSe 2020/2021)

This seminar introduces students to the science and politics of the Anthropocene - a new era in which every part of the planet is inflicted by human presence. Rising global temperatures, melting glaciers, irreversible species loss, and unpredictable weather are some of the effects of this new epoch. Across fields as varied as earth system science, geography, history, philosophy and International Relations, scholars are today trying to make sense of our transforming world in which traditional binaries such as nature/culture, human/non-human, inside/outside, us/them are called into question. In the seminar we will discuss the most influential accounts of the Anthropocene especially from International Relations and Science and Technology Studies; but we will also read historians and critical geographers.

Besides these theoretical encounters, students are encouraged to study the online sources available at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), the Anthropocene Curriculum as well as the Feral Atlas designed by Anna Tsing et al. Inspired by these interventions, students are invited to research their immediate vicinity. How can we retell the story of the river Lutter in Bielefeld or the Teutoburger Wald through the lens of the Anthropocene? What becomes apparent when following the “Ende Gelände” protests, or a plastic bag?

How we will work
The Covid pandemic has changed the ways in which we used to work in seminars. While we still figure out how distance learning can be accomplished there is some evidence that small student working groups are a central unit in creating a meaningful seminar. The structure of this seminar is built around the idea of lively interaction within student groups, between student groups as well as between student groups and the instructor. Thus, the seminar contains seven modules. Each module consists of sessions, some of which are synchronical (via zoom, either with your working group and the instructor, or with the entire seminar) or asynchronical (within your student group). For each session, I provide readings (required and further readings) as well as assignments. Make sure to have read the texts before each session or meeting.

As a group you have three tasks (Studienleistung):
1. Assignments: Starting in Module 3, you meet (online) in working groups to discuss the readings and the assignments for each session. The assignment can be found in the LernraumPlus of this Seminar. Most assignments are themes for your group discussions; I will ask you to create short summaries of your discussion, or to create a visualization etc. Please upload your group assignments. Also, you find some individual assignments.
2. Facilitating one session: Modules 3 to 6 end with a synchronical zoom session with the entire seminar. Each group is responsible for facilitating one of these sessions. This includes thinking about cross-cutting themes and questions for the discussion. The facilitating group has to fine tune their ideas with me during my office hours.
3. Creating a student project: Throughout the semester, each group works on a student project that reflects on the science and politics of the Anthropocene. There are three slots in which your group discusses the project with me. All groups present their projects at the end of the semester.

Inspirations for your Student projects
As an inspiration, I encourage you to explore the HKW’s Anthropocene Curriculum – “a long-term initiative that explores frameworks for critical knowledge and education in our ongoing transition into a new, human dominated geological epoch—the Anthropocene.” Here you will find a number of projects such as a journey to the Mississippi (2019) or to Venice (2021). This is the link https://www.anthropocene-curriculum.org

In addition, the Feral Atlas will be launched in October 2020. Curated by Anna Tsing and colleagues, the Feral Atlas assembles scientists, humanists, and artists showcasing how to “recognize ‘feral’ ecologies, that is, ecologies that have been encouraged by human-built infrastructures, but which have developed and spread beyond human control. These infrastructural effects, Feral Atlas argues, are the Anthropocene.” See http://www.feralatlas.org/

While each group is free to choose their own topic, I have thought of the following projects:

Project A: The River Lutter in Bielefeld
The River Lutter in Bielefeld has an interesting history that is closely intertwined with the changes of the city itself: For many years the river was encased (verrohrt in German); since 2001 civil society groups lobby for a renaturation of the river Lutter.

Project B: Follow a plastic bag
Plastic has become a major political substance. Microplastic, many argue, circulates already in the food we consume and has become part of our body. The project could follow a plastic bag, from the moment you hold it in your hands to the incineration plant. This is your contact at the incineration plant Ulrike Bollrath ulrike.bollrath@stadtwerke-bielefeld.de

Project C: The Teutoburger Forest
Before climate change was in the media, the German “Waldsterben” became the mobilization icon for the environmental movement. Right now, the Amazonian rainforests burns at record rate destroying shelter of indigenous peoples as well as speeding up global climate change. What are the politics of the Teutoburger forest?

Project D: What would be your idea?