Beyond Representation: Environmental Humanities Symposium

"Beyond Representation: Creative & Critical Practice in the Environmental Humanities" will take place April 8-9, 2017 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Presented by the Institute for Humanities and Global Cultures and the Center for Cultural Landscapes, the symposium will include interdisciplinary panels, workshops, and a reading by poet Cecily Parks. All symposium events are free and open to the public and will take place in Wilson Hall unless otherwise noted.

Many conversations in environmental humanities involve selecting and interpreting scientific data, then adding contributions from humanities fields to that quantitative base. This symposium asks what happens when the equation is flipped—when we assume that many environmental issues start with the humanities. What questions are we best positioned to pose, and to explore? How can scientists help us, instead of the other way around? How are the humanities particularly suited to explore issues of environmental justice at the intersection of creative and critical practice?