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Barbara Del Mercato

Elizabeth Povinelli – Geontologies: Story and Stories of a Concept 724 1024 Barbara Del Mercato

Elizabeth Povinelli – Geontologies: Story and Stories of a Concept

We are happy to announce the beginning of a new Environmental Humanities Seminar and Lecture Series with a special lecture:

Elizabeth Povinelli, Columbia University
Geontologies: story and stories of a concept
Discussant: Roberta Raffaetà
Welcome remarks: Franca Tamisari
Venice, October 12 2020, at 5.30 p.m.
Aula A, Ca’ Bottacin,  (Dorsoduro 3911)
Registration is required. Please email hsc@unive.it
To participate via Zoom, please use this link

This event is in English

Emiliano Guaraldo 150 150 Barbara Del Mercato

Emiliano Guaraldo

Post-Doc Fellow, Venice Center

The Aesthetics of Extinction and Climate Change: Visualizations of the Anthropocene at the Venice Biennale

Supervisor: Cristina Baldacci

Year: 2020-21

Email: emiliano.guaraldo@unive.it

This post-doc is issued in collaboration with ECLT

Emiliano Guaraldo

Emiliano Guaraldo’s research focuses on the visual culture of the Anthropocene, with a particular interest in the relationship between contemporary art and the production of technical and scientific images. He obtained a PhD in Italian Studies from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Before joining the Center for the Humanities and Social Change at Ca’ Foscari, Emiliano worked at the University of St. Gallen as a research assistant and public lecturer in Italian literature and culture. His dissertation, Estrazione: the Anthropocene and the Emergence of Italian Petro-imagination, analysed the carbon fossil imaginary in 20th-century visual and literary culture, with an emphasis on corporate cinema, and the works of Pasolini and Antonioni. His current project, The Aesthetics of Extinction and Climate Change: Visualizations of the Anthropocene at the Venice Biennale, aims to catalogue and interpret artistic investigations of the Anthropocene since 2000.

Emiliano Guaraldo’s publications and cv

Sasha Gora 1024 683 Barbara Del Mercato

Sasha Gora

Post-Doc Fellow, Venice Center

A Tale of Two Fish: Culinary Responses to Climate Change

Supervisor: Valentina Bonifacio

Year: 2020-21

Email: sasha.gora@unive.it

This post-doc is issued in collaboration with ECLT

Sasha Gora

L. Sasha Gora is a cultural historian and writer with a focus on food studies and contemporary art. She received a PhD (summa cum laude) from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Rachel Carson Center on the subject of Indigenous restaurants in Canada, and is currently working on her first book, titled Culinary Claims. Before joining the Center for the Humanities and Social Change at Ca’ Foscari, she was a Lecturer at LMU’s Amerika-Institut. She spent spring 2019 as a visiting scholar in the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. Her postdoctoral research in Venice looks at the history of culinary reactions to climate change in coastal regions, with an emphasis on restaurants as venues for cultural and environmental negotiation.

Daniel Finch-Race 150 150 Barbara Del Mercato

Daniel Finch-Race

Post-Doc Fellow, Venice Center

Enviro-Medical Approaches to the Industrial Revolution in France and Italy

Supervisor: Stefano Ercolino

Year: 2020-21

This post-doc is issued in collaboration with ECLT

Daniel Finch-Race

Daniel Finch-Race researches creative representations of environmental change in French and Italian culture since the mid-1800s. His doctoral work at the University of Cambridge focussed on ecocritical approaches to Charles Baudelaire’s urban poetry of 1857-61. Before joining the Center for the Humanities and Social Change at Ca’ Foscari, he held teaching fellowships at the University of Southampton and Durham University, an Environmental Humanities Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, and a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellowship at the University of Bristol. His current project blends the environmental and medical humanities to address physical and emotional aspects of pollution in France and Italy around the time of the Industrial Revolution.

Daniel Finch-Race’s publications and cv

Ifor Duncan 1024 376 Barbara Del Mercato

Ifor Duncan

Post-Doc Fellow, Venice Center

Submergences

Supervisor: Francesco Vallerani

2020-21

Email: ifor.duncan@unive.it

This post-doc is issued in collaboration with ECLT

Ifor Duncan

Ifor Duncan is a writer and inter-disciplinary researcher whose research concerns the relationships between political violence and watery spaces and materialities. He completed his PhD at the Centre for Research Architecture (CRA), Goldsmiths, University of London, where he developed the concept of necro-hydrology, which addresses the ways hydrologic properties are instrumentalised through border regimes, as technologies of obfuscation, and weaponised against marginalised communities. His current research project, Submergences, proposes to explore the ways hydrologic knowledges and practices can be mobilised to imagine alternate strategies of resistance against such forms of environmental weaponisation. Before joining the Center for the Humanities and Social Change at Ca’ Foscari, Ifor taught at the CRA and on the Media Studies programme in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art.

Heather Contant 150 150 Barbara Del Mercato

Heather Contant

Post-Doc Fellow, Venice Center

In Solidarity with the Future: The Arts as a Lab for the Blue Humanities
Tutor: Pietro Conte

Year: 2020-21

Email: heather.contant@unive.it

This post-doc is issued in collaboration with ECLT

Heather Contant

Heather Contant explores the collectivist tendencies of media arts through her research, teaching, and creative endeavors. Her research on the history of wireless media has gained recognition in multiple publications, such as Leonardo Music Journal, Soundscape, and Journal of Sonic Studies, and she was awarded the 2018 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research for her PhD thesis from the University of New South Wales Art and Design in Sydney, Australia. Her current work investigates what she calls the generative collectivism of long-term environmentally sustainable media arts projects that take place in extreme environments. She seeks to understand how such projects facilitate the development of new theories, practices, and technologies of sustainable media that make it easier for other collectives to form and explore the possibilities of sustainable media in their own environmental circumstances as well.

The economy and life in pandemic times. A dialogue on a painful opportunity for thinking 724 1024 Barbara Del Mercato

The economy and life in pandemic times. A dialogue on a painful opportunity for thinking

29 September, 6 pm (Rome time) on Google meet (Click here to join)

Bill Mauer (School of Social Sciences and Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion, University of California, Irvine), and Luigi Doria (Department of Linguisticsand Comparative Cultural Studies and Center for the Humanities and Social Change, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Moderator: Shaul Bassi.

Humanities, Ecocriticism and Multispecies Relationships – international conference 724 1024 Barbara Del Mercato

Humanities, Ecocriticism and Multispecies Relationships – international conference
September 28-29, 2020 (full program below)

Aula Magna Silvio Trentin, Ca’ Dolfin – Dorsoduro 3825/e Venice

The conference, organised by the Department of Asian and African Studies in collaboration with our Center and the University of Turin, aims to investigate the interface of sustainability, ecology and the environment as reflected in religions, literature and folklore of indigenous people of Southern and Northern Asia, the Americas, etc.

Is it possible to declare that forests think? Are the stones moving? Can the mountains do politics? Who can speak for the non-humans? All these issues are becoming more and more relevant in contemporary debates, as they inevitably merge into the most global concerns for sustainability and exploitation of the planet’s resources.

The scholars taking part in the conference are expected to propose a reflection on the diverse ways the relationship human / non human (plant, animals, spirits) is imagined, produced and articulated in different contexts. At stake are the emerging challenges of climate change and environmental issues scenarios as dealt with by the humanities.
The conference is intended as an event which aims to stimulate a new international debate on the issues of ecocritcism.

(full description on Ca’ Foscari University calendar)

Due to current health regulations, seats are limited. If you wish to participate in person, please contact prof. Stefano Beggiora at beggiora@unive.it.
To participate via Zoom, please register through this link . Online registration also requires the following passcode: 5w039k
Environmental Humanities: A View from Venice – Virtual Dialogues 1024 890 Barbara Del Mercato

Environmental Humanities: A View from Venice – Virtual Dialogues

From July 7 until July 31  the Center for the Humanities and Social Change (HSCVenice) posted every day a dialogue around the environmental humanities, across time, space, themes, and cultures. This series celebrates the launch of the first master’s degree in Environmental Humanities in Italy, at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the amazing richness and variety of this academic field. The deadline for enrolling in the Master’s Degree in EH is August 18th.

Each dialogue is linked to the list below, and will remain available. The dialogues are also collected in a playlist published on Ca’ Foscari’s YouTube channel and on and on www.unive.it/ehvenice.

A View from Venice
Week 1: Explorations

July 7
Amitav Ghosh & Ca’Foscari students (Nour Al Amine, Santiago Alarcon, Alia Elsaady, Lilit Gharagozyan, Ilaria Lizzini, Buse Umur, Francesca Zordan): Banadig, Bundook, Venice….. Stories from Gun Island
July 8
Valentina Bonifacio & Kristina Lyons, Transdisciplinary Ethnographic Engagements

Valentina Bonifacio is Researcher of Anthropology and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Kristina Lyons is Assistant Professor in Anthropology at University of Pennsylvania

July 9
Christof Mauch & Carlo Giupponi, Narrating Nature, Modelling Environments

Carlo Giupponi is Full Professor of Environmental Economics at the Department of Economics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Dean of the Venice International University and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.
Christof Mauch is Director (jointly with Helmuth Trischler) of the Rachel Carson Center as well as the Chair in American Culture and Transatlantic Relations (currently on leave) at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

July 10
Susanne Moser & Daniele Brombal,  Hope in the Anthropocene

Daniele Brombal is Associate Professor at the Department of Asian and African Studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.
Susanne Moser is Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a Research Faculty in the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch University New England

Week 2: Water

July 13
David Gentilcore & Craig Martin, Airs, Waters, Places: the Health of Early Modern Venice

David Gentilcore is Full Professor of Modern History at Ca’ Foscari University.
Craig Martin is Associate Professor of History of Science at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.

July 14
Jeffrey McCarthy & Francesca Santoro, The Ocean Around Us

Jeffrey McCarthy is the Director of Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah.
Francesca Santoro is Programme Specialist of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.

July 15
Daniela Zyman & Markus Reymann, Oceanic Post-humanities

Daniela Zyman is Artistic Director of TBA21 and curator of Territorial Agency: Oceans in Transformation exhibition, which will open at Ocean Space in August. Markus Reymann is the Director of TBA21–Academy, and Chair of the Alligator Head Foundation

July 16
Carlo Barbante & Francesco Vallerani, Paesaggi di ghiaccio e di acqua: memoria del clima e idrografie culturali

(in Italian with English subtitles)
Carlo Barbante is Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Director of the Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes – CNR, University Ca’Foscari Venice.
Francesco Vallerani is Full Professor of Human Geography at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

July 17
Emma Critchley & Neal Hartman, Water, Connectivity, and Breath: Art at Science Gallery Venice

Emma Critchley is an artist who uses a combination of photography, film, sound and installation to continually explore the human relationship with the underwater environment as a political, philosophical and environmental space.
Neal Hartman is the the Director of Science Gallery Venice.

Week 3: Crossings

July 20
Tim Ingold & Massimo Warglien, The Perception of the Environment

Massimo Warglien is Full Professor of Economics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Tim Ingold is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Anthropological Theory at the University of Aberdeen

July 21
John Haldon & Alessandra Bucossi, The Science of Reconstructing the Past: the Contribution of Environmental Studies to Medieval History

John Haldon is emeritus Shelby Cullom Davis ’30 Professor of European History and Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University and director of the Climate Change and History Research Initiative at Princeton.
Alessandra Bucossi is tenure-track assistant professor (RTDb) of Byzantine Civilisation at the Department of Humanities of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.

July 22
Sabrina Marchetti & Stefania Barca, Labour, Ecology, Care

Sabrina Marchetti is Associate Professor at Dept. Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Principal Investigator in ERC Starting Grant project “DomEQUAL” (2016-2020) and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.
Stefania Barca is senior researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra (CES/UC)

July 23
Alessandra Viola & Jonathon Keats, From Plant Rights to Phytodemocracy

Alessandra Viola is an author and producer, currently scholar in residence at HSCVenice.
Jonathon Keats in an American conceptual artist and experimental philospher

July 24
Antonella Bundu & Igiaba Scego, Afroitalian Visions

(in Italian with English subtitles)
Antonella Bundu is an activist and a politician.
Igiaba Scego, former fellow of HSC Venice, is a writer, jornalist and activist. Her latest book is La linea del colore (Bompiani, 2020)

Week 4: Venice

July 27
Antonio Marcomini & Pietro Omodeo, History and Environmental Science Meet in Venice

(in Italian with English subtitles)
Antonio Marcomini is Full professor of Environmental Chemistry at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.
Pietro Omodeo is Associate Professor at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, a historian of science and philosophy and a professor of philosophy of science and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.

July 28
Serenella Iovino & Shaul Bassi, Roots and Routes of the Environmental Humanities

Shaul Bassi is the director of HSCVenice Associate Professor of English Literature and Director of the new Master’s Degree in Environmental Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Serenella Iovino is Professor of Italian Studies and Environmental Humanities at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

July 29
Jane Da Mosto & Diego Calaon, Making Venice? Archaeology, Environment and Urban Ecology

Jane Da Mosto is an is an environmental scientist, and co-funder of the NGO “We are here Venice”.
Diego Calaon is Professor of Ancient Topography at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.

July 30
Marco Armiero & Gilda Zazzara, Bodies of Workers, Bodies of Waters. Venice as an Industrial Ecosystem

(in Italian with English subtitles)
Marco Armiero is an environmental historian (with a PhD in Economic History), currently working as a the Director of the KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory in Stockholm and Senior Researcher at the National Research Council, Italy.
Gilda Zazzara is a Researcher of Contemporary History at Ca’ Foscari Unversity of Venice and member of the faculty of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Humanities.

July 31 – Special double feature
6.00 p.m.
Lucia Veronesi & Pietro Del Soldà, On the Wings of Art and Friendship

(in Italian with English subtitles)
Lucia Veronesi is an artist based in Venice.
Pietro Del Soldà is an author and radio host.

July 31, 7.00 p.m.
Elizabeth Coffman & Ted Hardin, Venice is Thinking: a film project

Elizabeth Coffman and Ted Hardin are producers and film makers, working together at their company Long Distance Productions

Anna Antonova: The Maritime Anthropocene: Social, Environmental and Political Change on the Coast 1024 1024 Barbara Del Mercato

Anna Antonova: The Maritime Anthropocene: Social, Environmental and Political Change on the Coast
June 18, 2020 at 5 p.m. CEST on GoogleMeet

If you would like to participate, please email hsc@unive.it to receive the access link.

The seminar is in English/Seminario in inglese

Anna Antonova (Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich): The Maritime Anthropocene: Social, Environmental and Political Change on the Coast

Abstract:

Visiting two stories of maritime change from opposite ends of Europe, I
will explore the idea of looking at the Anthropocene from the vantage
point of the coast. I will argue that awareness of humanity’s deep
impact on the planet arrived early on the coast, and that the stories
that maritime communities have to tell could help us think through what
it means to navigate social, environmental, and political change in the
Anthropocene.

Anna S. Antonova, director of environmental humanities development at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, studies social and environmental change in the contemporary European context, particularly in coastal landscapes, and examines the relationship between societal transformations and environmental governance in the EU. Her research is highly interdisciplinary, combining approaches from the environmental humanities, critical policy studies, and political ecology. More here

 

This seminar is part of the “Water, water every where… Interdisciplinary online seminar series organised in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari’s Research Institute for Digital and Cultural Heritage and Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities