A new conversation is taking place in Australian universities in response to the environment, challenging us not only to adjust the ways we think of our planet, but also how we feel about the impact we have on it. This conversation inquires into our future and the future of the planet, which is essentially our only home.
>2 degrees of separation <2028: Akira and <2 degrees of separation <2028: Akira. 2012. Copyright: Josh Wodak.
The upcoming conference ‘Affective Habitus: New Environmental Histories of Botany, Zoology and Emotions’ at the Australian National University, Canberra (June 19-21) draws together scholars from the arts and sciences along with politicians and members of the public to discuss critical and creative responses to an urgent planetary situation.
Keynote speakers include prominent Australian and international scholars in the humanities and sciences such as climate change expert Professor Will Steffen; bushfire and Antarctic scholar Professor Tom Griffiths; ecofeminist Professor Ariel Salleh; food and gender writer Professor Elspeth Probyn, and controversial plant ethicist Professor Michael Marder.
There will be a diversity of approaches to human relations with the non-human world at the conference; discussions will reflect two exciting new academic fields that have joined this conversation – environmental humanities and ecocriticism.
According to conference co-convener Dr Tom Bristow, this new collaborative approach is emerging in our universities at a crucial turning point in our history.
Dr Bristow is President of the Association for the Study of Literature, Environment and Culture - Australia, New Zealand (ASLEC-ANZ), lectures on literature and the environment and is currently researching the cultural value of seeds. He said our era has been given a new geological name: the Anthropocene, which refers to the impact on Earth’s systems by one species above all others: humans.
“These new approaches are redefining how we relate to nonhuman species, and are examining not only how we think about nature, but how we feel about the way it is now rapidly deteriorating because of the impact that humans have had on the environment.”
Dr Bristow said how our treatment of the “more-than-human” world is not only of concern for ethicists, but it is partly determined by cultural interpretations of science.
“This conference draws together scientists, humanities scholars and artists who are now asking how we come to terms with the significant changes occurring in our era, such as species extinction, climate change, and ocean acidification.”
Affective Habitus is the fifth biennial conference of the Association for the Study of Literature, Environment & Culture, Australia and New Zealand (ASLEC-ANZ) and is co-convened with The ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions; and Minding Animals International.
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