Published 2018-06-26

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Linköping environmental humanities festival

In September, for the first time, an environmental humanities festival will be held in Linköping. The organiser is Mistra’s programme The Seed Box, whose researchers are aiming for their research to have an outreach beyond the groves of academia.

The Seed Box approaches environmental issues from the angle of humanities and social sciences. Since this also requires active public participation, one objective of the programme is for its work to be conducted outside its own academic sphere.

To achieve this, the programme is holding Seed and Citizens – an Environmental Humanities Festival, on 21–23 September this year. The Friday is entirely reserved for researchers in, or closely associated with, the programme. Events will include presentation of the first year’s findings.

The festival will be more open on the Saturday, when the public are invited to wide-ranging activities at Östergötland County Museum. There will be art exhibitions, film shows and panel discussions, and city walks and thematic guided tours of the Museum’s exhibits are also planned.

Later in the evening, an environmental humanities pub will open. There, anyone who wishes will get an opportunity to talk about the topics they care most about. One might be the implications of humanities and social science research not always providing answers as clear as those from the more binary sciences.

On the festival’s final day, a brunch is planned. It will be accompanied by music and conversation, for example.

‘With this festival, we hope to leave a door ajar to an academic area that many people may, at first sight, find somewhat incomprehensible, but most think is exciting when we’ve captured their interest. That’s especially because we frame environmental research in a way that isn’t always self-evident, challenging people’s ideas,’ says Anna Kaijser, The Seed Box’s Deputy Programme Director.

Link: Mistra Programme The Seed Box’s website: https://theseedbox.se/.

Text: Per Westergård