Humans and the environment
Published May 3, 2024
The Insights Speaker Series highlights College of Liberal Arts faculty shedding light on engaging topics. This installment features three CLA faculty highlighting the relationship between humans and the environment from a liberal arts perspective. From inspecting ableism in nature to assessing mutual adaptation, each project explores how humans impact the environment and vice versa. These brief, exciting presentations seek to generate discussion and stimulate ideas that highlight the value of the liberal arts.
PRESENTATIONS
Nature is Ableist
In this brief, fascinating presentation, ethnic studies assistant professor Jenne Schmidt asks us to consider whether the natural world is ableist and exclusionary—or whether instead, we tend to engage with nature through an ableist lens.
Making Lemonade: From Environmental Vulnerability to Mutual Adaptation
Professor Ken Shockley is the Holmes Rolston III Chair in Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. In this presentation, he reminds us that individuals are not the only ones to experience vulnerability; systems do as well, including our climate and our environment. Is vulnerability always a liability? Shockley asks, or can it be an impetus for compassion, collaboration, and even creativity?
A Posthumanist Walks into Bioengineering: Seriously Joking About Humans, Cellular Machines and Other Fictional Beings
Associate professor of english Erika Szymanski works at the intersections: of rhetoric and science, of metaphor and meaning, of human and post-human, and of questions both serious and—occasionally—silly. In this presentation, she takes us on a short tour of her work—jokes included, questions encouraged.
Check out the collection of Insights Speaker Series presentations on our YouTube channel.