The SNF project “Mediating the Ecological Imperative: Formats and Modes of Engagement” is a joint research project of the Institutes of Art History, American Studies and Social Anthropology at the University of Bern. In addition, a collaboration with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is being realized. Research focuses on the visual politics of climate change, the role of ecological issues in art and literature, and social engagement with the environment in indigenous cultures. The philosopher Hans Jonas coined the term “ecological imperative” in his book Das Prinzip Verantwortung (The Principle of Responsibility, 1979), in which he formulated an ecological maxim for action based on Immanuel Kant’s “Categorical Imperative”: “Act in such a way that the effects of your actions are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life on earth”. → Read more about the project
- Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schneemann (Lead, University of Bern)
- Prof. Dr. Gabriele Rippl (University of Bern)
- Prof. Dr. Michaela Schäuble (University of Bern)
- Prof. Dr. Peter Krieger (2021-22) (National Autonomous University of Mexico)
- Dr. Toni Hildebrandt (Advanced Postdoc and Coordinator, University of Bern)
- → See the whole project team
The Visual Methods Studio of the Concordia Ethnography Lab will explore the intersections between anthropology and filmmaking through the screening of three short audiovisual works by Andrea Bordoli, each of them proposing a formal and conceptual encounter with a specific territory. By considering human-nonhuman entanglements, by tracking flows and transformations of matter, and by imagining speculative scenarios that blur past, present and future tenses, each of these films proposes a filmic encounter to think with and think through some key elements of the contemporary ecological crisis. Andrea Bordoli is a PhD student in the SNSF Sinergia project Mediating the Ecological Imperative.
Michaela Schäuble has been a guest at Ethnographic Imagination Basel – A Podcast Series on Reimagining the World from the Mundane. The podcast promotes ethnography not only as a tool of scholarly research but also as a mode of imagination available to all, a means for pursuing deeper intercultural, contextual understanding and more ethical ways of being in the world. This episode On Trance examines the transformative potential of ecstatic experiences of trance, the state of ecstasy and exuberance associated with mediumship. The discussion centers on forms of possession, and mediumship, which have long fascinated anthropologists and challenged their understanding and representational possibilities.
Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schneemann will give the keynote lecture Farbwerte. Verhandlungen einer engagierten Kunstgeschichte at the conference "Alle meine Farben", University of Regensburg, jointly organized by Prof. Dr. Oliver Jehle (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) and Dr. Gerald Dagit (University of Regensburg). The conference takes place at the Kulturraum Vor der Grieb.
