The problem of climate change forces us to rethink many of the basic analytical categories in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Within the humanities, writers and artists are experimenting with new ways in which their practices can catalyze environmental awareness, and emerging research is beginning to integrate the history of culture with the history of the earth’s climate.
This project brought together faculty and graduate students from across the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences in a reading group. We were especially interested in the place of the humanities in meeting the challenge of climate change. How might humanistic perspectives inform the science and politics of climate change? We also considered how climate change is transforming our understanding of history, politics, literature, and ethics, inspiring new approaches within the humanities.
Associate Professor of British History, Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, and the College
University of Chicago
His current research deals with a set of closely related themes in environmental history, history of science, and political economy. The British Industrial Revolution saw the birth of the first fossil fuel economy. At the same time, geologists transformed the public understanding of the earth's...
Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature
University of Chicago
Benjamin Morgan's research and teaching focus on literature, science, and aesthetics in the Victorian period and early twentieth century. Morgan's particular areas of interest include nineteenth-century sciences of mind and emotion; aestheticism and decadence; and speculative and science...
Associate Professor of African History, African Studies, and the College; Affiliated Faculty, Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies; Faculty Affiliate, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture
University of Chicago
Osborn is a historian of Africa, with a particular interest in precolonial and colonial West Africa. She is currently the Faculty Director of the Senegal study abroad program, and she has also served as co-director of the Committee on African Studies, chair of the College’s British fellowships...
