Deze activiteit wordt georganiseerd door Koning Boudewijnstichting en gaat door in het Engels.
In recent years, climate scientists and activists have been forced to confront the limitations of the information-deficit model of science communication, which assumes that people act irrationally because their knowledge is deficient. After all, increasingly grim and alarming scientific reports such as those periodically produced by the IPCC have failed to translate into climate action at the scale and pace required to avert catastrophic impacts. In response, there have been numerous calls and attempts to explore alternative, creative pathways for getting the public to engage with the climate crisis, such as those provided by literature and the arts in general. In this webinar, Stef Craps will discuss how contemporary literature grapples with the aesthetic, ethical, and existential challenges posed by climate change, a phenomenon that defies the imagination, shakes the very idea of what it means to be human, and forces us to re-frame our relationship to the planet and to each other.
Stef Craps is a professor of English literature at Ghent University, where he directs the Cultural Memory Studies Initiative. His research interests lie in twentieth-century and contemporary literature and culture, memory and trauma studies, postcolonial theory, and ecocriticism and the environmental humanities. His latest work focuses on climate change fiction and the aesthetics of ecological mourning.
Logistics
Once you have registered online, you will be sent a link to the webinar shortly before its date.
The presentation is in English only, followed by an exchange of views between the speakers and participants.
Context
As the number of climate initiatives grows, the call for change is becoming increasingly urgent. Yet garnering support from a range of groups with diverging views appears to be difficult. Some initiatives meet with resistance or simply add fuel to an already heated debate. So what's going on? Why isn't everyone stepping up to the plate? Why do some people seem uninterested, or even hostile?
Organised by the King Baudouin Foundation, this international series of seminars aims to discover what perspectives and insights the humanities and social sciences can bring to this issue. While conveying scientifically accurate information is important, focusing on the link with target groups' values and identities is also vital. What is their attitude to the risks posed by climate change? What part do climate issues play in their respective world views? How do individuals view their own capacity to act? Seeking links between different target groups and identifying shared needs, concerns and interests is in itself a fruitful means of promoting more sustainable action.
This series of seminars will address these wide-ranging questions by offering a platform to speakers from Belgium and beyond. By drawing on a range of disciplines within the humanities and social sciences, the Foundation aims to broaden the discussion about tools, methods and practices for strengthening climate initiatives.
This seminar series is aimed at public authorities, non-profit organisations, journalists, communicators and businesses looking to promote understanding, engagement and inclusive action on the climate among their own target groups.