Zoom Link: https://hhs-se.zoom.us/j/67043787867

Title: OTHER HUMANS, OTHER SENSES, OTHER PLACES - OTHER WORLDS?

Subtitle: How to be open in the anthropocene.

Introduction:

This seminar is built on our lived experiences. Therefore we have not provided preparatory readings or videos. Instead we have provided instructions for you to go out into the world, to meet and experience other ideas, with other people, in other places, with often ignored senses. The goal is to experience something a little unusual and then reflect on these experiences collectively during the seminar.

The anthropocene, cthulhu-scene, capitalo-scene, whatever-o-scene, is about working through the material-discursive pluralities of the current era. Yet even within this course it seems that we are struggling to break through the same ways of thinking. Does it have to be the case that we can easily imagine the end of the world, but struggle with imagining the end of capitalism - or modernity? Maybe we are not really doing that well with thinking differently. Anthropocentric sensitivity is considered when we replace material, tweak the system, but hold on to the same relationships, norms and assumptions.This seminar is not about othering as a process, which reproduces the dualisms of modernity, but about exploring how there are multiple perspectives existing concurrently. How can we actually think differently? How can we engage with other ideas, other ontologies? This seminar tests a method of engaging with others (people, material, places) to see whether they can help us think beyond our own ideas. We want to draw your attention to reflect whether there even is such a thing as the “others'' in the Anthropocene.

Resources and materials:

The background readings and videos that inspired this seminar will be shared after the seminar. The preparatory materials for this seminar will be co-created through the two exercises below.

Exercise 1 “Talking to strangers”

This part is about practicing connection and communication. Your task over the next few days is to have a conversation with three to five people you do not know yet. The purpose is to engage in a dialogue with them about something that is on both your minds - concerns, observations, feelings, the (changing?) weather. Do not approach it as an interview or a debate, rather try to find a way to connect to these strangers in a familiar and casual way. To open up the conversation, try using something you both can observe - maybe the bus is running late, maybe that cigarette butt has a feather stuck to it…

Report back on your experiences by submitting a short (max 250 words) reflection by 12:00 CET on May 22nd to svetlana.gross@phdstudent.hhs.se Please try to reflect on the following:

Who did you talk to, about what?
How did these experiences make you feel?
What did you do (consciously or unconsciously) to keep the conversation going?
What was easy and what was difficult?

Exercise 2 “Collecting materials”

This part is about how we relate to/sense/interact with places. Your task over the next few days is to pay attention to your surroundings and collect materials from these places - it could be a place that you feel some connection with, or that brings back memories, or a place that is part of your daily life, or somewhere you have been only once. The materials could be of different types, from organic to inorganic, synthetic, natural, metallic, garbage, discursive (idea, poem, street sign, graffiti text), and so on.

We will be using these materials on the day so please bring them with you, but in order to help with our planning please make a digital copy (like a photo or video) of your material and by 12:00 CET on May 22nd please send to laila.mendy@geo.uu.se. You can be creative and make a poem, or painting, or music or other expressions, but make sure you have a way that you can send it to us.

Seminar Structure:

Based upon your submissions we will split you into groups, so it is important that you submit them on time. During the seminar we will have two deep reflections that will help us understand the experiences we have when we try to listen to other people and pay attention to our surroundings, and what it means to try to understand or interpret ways of thinking, being, and interacting. The first half of the seminar will be based upon exercise 1, and the second half on exercise 2. We will take a break in between to stretch our legs and refresh ourselves. We encourage you to collectively capture the reflections you make during the discussions through the use of digital tools (these will be shared at the seminar).