In the study of the topic “Perceptions of Environment”, two speakers will be invited every month in the Spring Semester 2021 at the seminar. The first chapter of the seminar is focused on India but not limited to it. Speakers are early career graduates, Postdocs and final stage PhD students, who are willing to present a specific component of their research project that corresponds with the themes outlined below.
In the past few decades, several works on the environment have radically reshaped the ways in which we think of/and write about non-human or more-than-human worlds (Anna Tsing). The studies have brought a specific dimension of the environment to fore. First, it has taught us the entanglements of humans, their role in the changes and effects on the environment – namely, the era of Anthropocene. Second, it has dramatically shifted, if not changed, these anthropocentric perceptions of environment – allowing access to the multisensorial, multispecies world (Govindarajan).
The seminar, therefore, is structured to host conversation by scholars whose works deal significantly with the environmental history, politics, law, governance and theory. The series specifically accommodates forchanging nature of the landscape in the wake of Covid – foregrounding challenges to the study of the environment. It seeks to investigate new tools, methods, innovations, for instance, the implication on ethnographic research, as Pandian writes, “an environmental method, taking the uncertainty of the world as foundation for knowledge and ethics” (Pandian, 2020).
The seminar explores the following themes but not limited to them;
- Environment and Water
- Environment and Waste
- Environment and Law
- Environment and Cities
- Environment and Indigenous knowledge
- Environment and Movements
Below is the list of the speakers, title, dates and zoom link for each seminar:
- Dr Aditya Ramesh (Department of History, University of Manchester)
Title: City and countryside: the infrastructure of water in colonial Bangalore 15th January. Timing: 16:00 CET
LINK: oslomet.zoom.us/j/68599420216? pwd=elZOeWppdk1sWEhjN05CR0xCellYQT09… Meeting ID: 685 9942 0216 Password: 895877
2. Aparna Agarwal (International Development/Social Anthropology, University of Oxford)
Title: Rethinking Waste: Understanding Life and Environment of Bhalswa Landfill. 22nd January. Timing 16:00 CET
LINK: https://oslomet.zoom.us/j/67304280415? pwd=YmZzcDhMNHpERTJleTZUZGtQeTd1QT09… Meeting ID: 673 0428 0415 Password: 866554
3. Arpitha Kodavari (Legal Studies, European University Institute)
Title: Environmental Law and Movements: Recognition or Redistribution? Divisions in approaches to Justice and the Forest Rights Act, 2006 in India. 29th Jan. Timing 16:00 CET
LINK: https://oslomet.zoom.us/j/64363374388? pwd=Si9IdFNhaFBrOUJBQkdMY1NxM3lpZz09… Meeting ID: 643 6337 4388 Password: 586031
4. Neelam Kerketta (Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University)
Title: Food, agriculture, and sustainability among indigenous people in central India. 5th Feb. Timing: 16:00 CET
LINK: https://oslomet.zoom.us/j/64775590844? pwd=S0ZmblVtOUx4VEVjbGwzWkluWnJaQT09… Meeting ID: 647 7559 0844 Password: 406795
5. Vishal Singh (Department of History, University of Delhi)
Title: Doab Unsettled: Land use, subsistence and the making of the canal colony in north India (1803-1860) 12th Feb. Timing: 16:00 CET
https://oslomet.zoom.us/j/64131693901?pwd=RklUL2gxeDNQNW5KeHI0SmVuQ2h4UT09 Meeting ID: 641 3169 3901 Password: 194913
6. Dr Anwesha Dutta (Political Ecology, CMI, Bergen)
Title: Humanizing the frontline of biodiversity conservation: Beyond a hero versus villain narrative in ranger work. 19 Feb. Timing: 16:00 CET
LINK: oslomet.zoom.us/j/65713997628? pwd=SW1WbHFmbFNmZVVlNlBhdVRGV0xnQT09… Meeting ID: 657 1399 7628 Password: 140070
7. Dr Birsha Ohdedar (Law, University of Essex)
Title: Law and the production of water and climate injustices: Floods in the rivers of Eastern India. 27th Feb. Timing:16:00 CET
LINK:https://oslomet.zoom.us/j/68492390391? pwd=YlBGMkVBU1ZBb0o4N0VsVWo3Z1phUT09… Meeting ID: 684 9239 0391 Password: 331186