University College Dublin Environmental Humanities

14/10/2024

The Colombia Migrant Film Festival will take place in 42 cities around the world and for the first time in Ireland with screenings in Dublin and Cork from16th to 24th of October. The festival is in its third edition, and this year is dedicated to Environmental & Migratory Justice, with participation and co-organisation of some of our UCD-based members.

The festival is an initiative led and organised by Colombian exiles and immigrants in various parts of the world and supported in Ireland by University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC), and two locally based NGOs, the Latin America Solidarity Centre (LASC) and Front-Line Defenders.

At University College Dublin (UCD) the event is organised by Dr. Lucía Poveda, postdoctoral researcher (Sutherland School of Law) and Rubén Flores (UCD Sociology), and sponsored by the UCD Equality Studies Centre and the UCD Centre for Human Rights. The screenings will take place on Wednesday the 23rd and Thursday the 24th of October at 18:30h at the Sutherland School of Law (room LAW L0023).

The screenings are free and open to all. Please register here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSFiRh_tf2WXkCrNO8BUV7Dr2vFtnf1CS6GZFb7g7ycuy7BQ/viewform

We will be screening short documentaries in Spanish with English subtitles, followed by open discussions.

Wednesday 23rd 18:30h - "Territorio Polloui" by Carmela Daza (85 minutes)

Chair: Alejandro Valderrama, Founder of Ethical Origin

Territorio Puloui is a documentary that explores the relationship between the indigenous Wayuu community and water. It tells the story of Carmela's first visit to the La Guajira peninsula, her father's native region and the ancestral territory of the Wayuu people. By listening to the voices of indigenous leaders, Carmela reveals the environmental impact of open-pit coal mining in the region, as well as the strategies put in place by the women of the community to survive the lack of water. Discussion will include conversation with the director, Carmela Daza.

Thursday 24th 18:30 - "Bosques el último refugio del aire" (Forests the last refuge of air) by Fernando Pineda (23 minutes) and "Construyendo resistencias" by Lissy Olaya (31 minutes).

Chair: Christie Nicoson, UCD Postdoctoral Researcher (Sutherland School of Law)

Bosques el último refugio del aire is a documentary film shows the reality faced by indigenous and Afro-Colombian indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in Colombia, whose survival depends on the forests. Their stories reveal how deforestation and the forest industry threaten their way of life and the air we all breathe.

Cosechando Resistencias features the voices of urban gardens defending the environment in the south-east of Bogotá. They struggle for territory, the re-signification of space, the weaving of society and therapy for the soul.

The festival brochure can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VOiHEgxFlewPWm51msBl-KGWxsKQE5da/view

04/10/2024

The Animal Studies Research Network organised by
& Poulomi Choudhury is running a virtual seminar series in 2024-2025.

Starting with 'Animals and Palestine' w/ Prof. Irus Braverman and Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh. For info and registration: https://animalstudiesucd.com

04/10/2024

Sarah Comyn and Megan Kuster are launching this exciting new 'Extracts reading/praxis group', which will run on Zoom:

"The Extracts reading / praxis group emerges from a series of research projects we co-designed between 2021-2024 focusing on (neo)colonial mining, environmental arts, and community partnerships, and is also inspired by the work of the Extracting Us Collective, which explores how artistic and creative practises can process and communicate ideas about relating and acting ‘otherwise’.

In establishing this reading / praxis group, we aim to collaboratively and reflexively engage with foundational and emerging scholarship and artwork that responds to the (neo)colonial histories (past and present) of extractivism, and to explore imagining and practicing ways of being and relating that subvert and resist extractivism.

Our aim is to inspire critical reflection, creative inquiry, and community discussion. We plan to create an online exhibition and print catalogue based on our conversations and explorations.

For more information and to learn how to sign up to get extracts and Zoom links, please visit:

A Critical Theory and Creative Praxis Reading Group ABOUT The Extracts reading / praxis group emerges from a series of research projects we co-designed between 2021-2024 focusing on (neo)colonial m…

04/06/2024

This wonderful exhibit is today, co-organised by Kate Fama and Sarah Comyn and featuring art by many of our strand members!

On June 4th at 4pm, we'll be launching the Print Exchanges Exhibit at the James Joyce Library, sponsored by the School of English and the College. Please stop in for a glass of bubbly, a cupcake, and a celebration!

In April of this year, researchers, activists, and archivists who consider extractivism in their work met up for a printmaking workshop. We each brought with us the experience of a local or global site of extraction (Wicklow, Abbeyleix Bog, Morecambe Bay, Clontarf Island, Poolbeg, Johannesburg) and a willingness to expand the way we represent our own sites of study. Working with local artist Sinead Lawson, participants printed representations of their sites: past, present, or future.

Please join us in celebrating artworks by:
Ashley Cahillane
Lucy Collins
Sarah Comyn
Kate Fama
Sinead Lawson
Megan Kuster
Alison McEvoy
Paula McGrath
Katherine McSharry

Hoping to see you all to raise a glass in style!

Very best
Kate and Sarah

28/05/2024

"Energy Transitions: Culture, Pedagogy, Degrowth"

June 5-6, 2024

H204 Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland

You are kindly invited to a two-day workshop and symposium considering critical, cultural, and pedagogical approaches to energy transitions. Day 1 will focus on national and institutional approaches to energy transitions; with a roundtable on Irish energy transitions, followed by a workshop on degrowing the research university.

Day 2 involves a symposium on the global cultures of energy and 'just' transitions. Speakers and facilitators include Nick Lawrence (Warwick), Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee (Oxford), Sheena Wilson (Alberta), Rhys Williams (Glasgow), and poets Jonathan Skinner (Warwick) and Lucy Burnett (Lancaster).

This event will be of interest to anyone working in or adjacent to the environmental and/or energy humanities. No prior knowledge is assumed! Both days are free and hybrid (participants can choose to attend online or in person) but are ticketed, so please register at the link on our website below.

Details at: https://tinyurl.com/44dh2jxp

Co-organised by UCD Env Hums strand members Treasa De Loughry, Caleb O'Connor and Sharae Deckard as part of the Cultural Imaginaries of Just Transition project

29/03/2024

The “Pedagogy, Sustainability, and the Environment: Mini Series" at UCD continues with discussions on

"Sustainable Prosperity, Post-Growth Futures, Culture and the Arts with Kate Oakley and Mark Banks"

17 April 2024, 3:00pm - 4:30pm

Venue: Rosemarie Mulcahy Seminar Room (J004), Newman Building, UCD

Online attendance available via zoom: https://ucd-ie.zoom.us/j/65138762529?pwd=K3hPVWxKdDNwUzViU2x1TjNpMzJydz09

In this seminar Kate Oakley (Professor of Cultural Policy at the University of Glasgow) and Mark Banks (Professor in the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at the University of Glasgow) will consider the role of the arts in sustainable prosperity discussions in the UK, and will draw out the contradictions and tension that arise in pursuing environmental aims in highly unequal societies. They will also consider how the arts are thought about in some of the current post-growth/ de-growth frameworks, including wellbeing economics, doughnut economies, inclusive growth and what is missing from these; before speculating on the implications of this for pedagogy in this field.

Co-organised by Dr Treasa De Loughry (UCD, School of English, Drama and Film) and Dr Victoria Durrer (School of Art History and Cultural Policy, UCD), supported by the Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland.

29/03/2024

Exciting public keynote coming up by Sam Solnick 'The Place(s) of Environmental Humanities", Thurs 11th April 3:15-4:15 PM (UTC+1), organised by Ashley Cahillane as part of the "Theorising Research Ecologies" symposium.

Hybrid event, register to get Zoom link--open to all, not just symposium attendees!

29/03/2024

Would great to see as many people as possible at"the Theorising Research Ecologies?" symposium coming up next Thursday at UCD HI and online. Featuring an exciting range of guest speakers, including many strand members, a film screening of Making Dust, and a keynote by Sam Solnick.

Register to get Zoom link and more: https://forms.gle/sosgTjEqXiSr8ueS9

Theorising Research Ecologies? An Environmental Humanities Symposium

Venue: Seminar Room H204 (and online on Zoom), UCD Humanities Institute,

Date: Thursday 11th April

You are warmly invited to an event that considers "research ecologies": the physical spaces, infrastructures, and processes that help or hinder our work. How can the environmental humanities expand to consider ‘research environment’ as a form of environment? How do factors such as location, networking, and digital space matter to the environmental critic? Does turning a critical lens to our laptops, desks, or travel choices augment or disrupt our practice? This event showcases current Environmental Humanities research, advancing the field in new place-based and politically engaged directions.

Speakers: Michelle Bastian (University of Edinburgh); Sam Solnick (University of Liverpool); Éireann Lorsung (University College Dublin); Patrick Brodie (University College Dublin); Lisa Otty (University of Edinburgh); Ellen Rowley (University College Dublin).

Plenty of time for chats and networking.

Includes a showing of the film essay Making Dust (Arts Council of Ireland, Aemi, 2023) about the demolition of Ireland's second largest Catholic Church, the Church of the Annunciation in Finglas West, Dublin (see description attached).

This event is a collaboration between MARBEFES (Ashley Cahillane) and Cultural Imaginaries of Just Transitions (Treasa DeLoughry).

The event will provide ideas and networking to feed into the Biennial Conference for the Study of Literature and the Environment UK and Ireland (ASLE-UKI), which will be held at the University of Galway, 9th, 12th - 14th of August 2025.

Funded by the UCD Humanities Institute, the UCD Earth Institute, and UCD College of Arts and Humanities.

Date: April 11th, 2024 Time: 9am - 5pm (Irish Standard Time IST) Location: Seminar Room H204, UCD Humanities Institute, University College Dublin Format: Hybrid Organiser: Ashley Cahillane ([email protected] )

06/12/2023

We are delighted to share the CFP for the 'Nonhuman Animals in the Age of Extinction and Mass Production’ conference organised by strand members Poulomi Choudhury and Deborah Schrijvers. The conference will explore Environmental Humanities and Animal Studies intersections in theory, literature and arts, and our plenary speakers include John Miller and from . We are looking forward to your abstracts!

Date: 17 May 2024
Venue: UCD Humanities Insitute.

Read the full CFP at https://tinyurl.com/animalstudiesucd and send abstracts to [email protected] by 14 Feb 2024

Image ALT text:
Announces plenary speakers Dr John Miller and Dr Sarah Bezan. Featured image by Jana Schirmer, shows children joyfully riding animals on a carnival carousel. The pigs, rabbits, sheep, chickens, and cows seem to have undergone violent treatment in the agriculture and medical testing industries. Link to CFP: https://tinyurl.com/animalstudiesucd and email: [email protected].

04/12/2023

This CFP for a special issue of the Journal of Environmental Media on 'Care-ful convening: towards low carbon and inclusive knowledge sharing', co-edited by our strand member looks brilliant!

Deadlines in 15 Jan 2024 (Analyses section) and 15 May 2024 (Actualise/Fantasize sections)
:
https://www.intellectbooks.com/asset/79161/1/JEM_6_2_CFP.pdf

01/11/2023

Next up in Sarah Comyn's 'Methodologies concerning Extractivism' seminar series, as part of the IRC Laureate MINERALS project, is a seminar by UCD researcher and strand member Patrick Anthony:

'Underlands, Empires, Atmospheres'

Time: Tue 7 Nov 2023 16:00 UTC+0

Register to receive Zoom link:

'Underlands, Empires, Atmospheres: Extractive Histories of Environmental Science' seminar by Dr Patrick Anthony

24/10/2023

A reminder that the last event in the "Pedagogy, Sustainability, and the Environment: Mini Series" is on tomorrow on UCD campus at 1130am in Building 71, details below:

“Climate Change and the Lives of Spaces: Pedagogical Possibilities”
Hugh Campbell (School of Architecture Planning and Environmental Policy, UCD) and
Treasa De Loughry (School of English, Drama, and Film, UCD)

Time/ Date: Wednesday, 25 October, 11.30am-12.30pm
Venue: Building 71
Format: Talk + Tour of Level 2 Architecture Studio Retrofitting Project

Join us for a tour of Building 71 (the old student bar), and discover how it has been imaginatively repurposed by Level 2 Architecture Studio Students, and teaching teams, to consider questions of creativity, on-campus experience, sustainability, and place-based narrative exploration.