The Umwelt Center for Germanic Studies & Environmental Humanities invites participants from across the Arts and Sciences to a reading group exploring topics and approaches in the environmental humanities. Our theme for this academic year will be Decomposition: Processes of Decay, Collapse, and Reorganization. Meetings will take place monthly on Fridays 12:30-1:30, and lunch will be provided.
The inaugural meeting will take place on Friday, October 18, 12:30-1:30 in Hagerty Hall 488. We will discuss excerpts from Judith Schalansky’s An Inventory of Losses (Verzeichnis einiger Verluste), which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and won the Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize. Reflecting on the entwined histories of loss and destruction in cultural and natural domains, Schalansky’s book offers an excellent entry point to questions at the heart of the environmental humanities.
As the year progresses, we hope that participants will suggest readings, so that our conversations reflect the diverse approaches to the environmental humanities being taken at Ohio State. Further meetings will take place on
- November 15
- January 24
- February 21
- March 21
- April 11
We hope that you will consider joining us for one or more of these discussions. So that we can plan for a (vegan-friendly) lunch for all, and to receive the readings for the meeting, please RSVP to Katra Byram (byram.4@osu.edu) by noon on Friday, October 11.