The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at The Ohio State University is excited to announce the creation of the Umwelt Center for Germanic Studies and Environmental Humanities. Supported by a generous $500,000 seed grant, the Umwelt Center will become an international research center dedicated to exploring the intersections of Environmental Humanities with Germanic Studies, while forging connections to a variety of disciplines and perspectives. In addition to German, current affiliated faculty have expertise in Scandinavian languages, Yiddish, Afrikaans, and multilingualism. More information about our research and opportunities to get involved can be found here.
The German term Umwelt designates the world around an organism, the place where it lives, perceives, and acts. Even when organisms share a location or habitat, each may have its own Umwelt, a unique set of needs, experiences, and potentials. At a time of climate change and growing environmental threats, the Umwelt Center investigates how different cultural and natural environments overlap and interact in our shared world.
In so doing, the Center helps fulfill the mission of the public research university: to provide a life-changing education to students from all backgrounds, advance the public good and engage the community, and serve as a laboratory for innovation.