The Workshop”Tracking Contemporary Metabolisms – Historicizing Ecological Epistemologies” will take place at Max-Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt, on the 11/ and 12/12/2018.
“Following” elements, things, actants, and references as they move, connect, interact, and enfold has become a watchword in social theory, anthropology, history and environmental humanities. Regardless if the production of knowledge, the sustainability of industries, the organization of logistics, the ecologies of carbon, the question of energy or the recycling of waste is at stake – the activity of tracing, tracking, sensing seems a common denominator for rethinking ecologies and governing economies alike. In this context, the notions of circulation, metabolism and connectivity occupy a central position. They become the novel ontologies for linking material existence, the social fabric, and the making of knowledge. In this workshop, we are interested in discussing and exploring this intermingling of ecological epistemologies, visions of control and ontologies of circulation and metabolism. For this purpose, we seek to create a conversation between historians of science on the one hand and anthropologists, sociologists and geographers on the other. Our aim is to link the critical impact of genealogies of circulation and metabolism with contemporary concerns of the environmental humanities.
The full programm can be found here.