Apr 09, 2021
Guest lecture by Prof. Moritz Ingwersen (April 8th, 2021)
Prof. Ingwersen has been at TUD since March 1st, 2021, where he is a Junior Professor for North American literature with a focus on Future Studies at the Institute for English and American Studies (Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies, Chair of North American Literature | Future Studies). On April 8th, 2021, the young, committed researcher introduced his research area of “Energy Humanities” to the team of the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group in an exciting and interactive way.
The Energy Humanities are a growing interdisciplinary field that examines the cultural and social traces of energy production, consumption, and politics. Scholarship in the field is anchored in the recognition that the use of fossil fuels is not only the prime driver of global warming but has also left a deep impact on the values, aesthetics, ideologies, social relations, and cultural practices of the twentieth century. Which realities of resource extraction and consumption are concealed in modern visions of progress, freedom, mobility, and comfort? Which power relations and environmental injustices sustain the modern use of energy—both locally and globally—and how can they be made visible? How do literature and art contribute to the negotiation, critique, and production of energy entanglements? How can we draw attention to our own culture’s “energy unconscious”? An energy transition requires more than a technological fix and needs to entail a critical analysis of the cultural narratives, social ramifications, aesthetic strategies, and histories associated with fossil fuels. Recognizing the dire need for different energy relations in the face of an escalating climate crisis, the energy humanities are propelled by the insight that an examination of literature, art, philosophy, activism, and history is crucial for imagining socially and ecologically sustainable energy futures.
More information on the Energy Humanities: