WORKSHOP: "Rethinking Representation in the Anthropocene, Revisiting the Intersections of Science and Politics", Sept 24-25, University of Basel.
Julian Rainer Purrmann
Dear list members,
We would like to draw your attention to the workshop “Rethinking Representation in the Anthropocene: Revisiting the Intersections of Science and Politics”, taking place on 24–25 September at the University of Basel. Please feel free to share this call with any colleagues who might be interested.
Call for Papers
Rethinking Representation in the Anthropocene: Revisiting the Intersections of Science and Politics
Workshop held as part of the event series celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Swiss Association for Science and Technology Studies (STS-CH)
University of Basel | September 24–25, 2026
This workshop explores the renewed relevance of representation, as concept, practice and concern, in the Anthropocene. As STS has shown, modern scientific practices have been calling other-than-human entities into existence, transforming them into subjects of political concern. In the Anthropocene, these entities emerge as threatened yet increasingly vocal actors demanding political representation in a more-than-human world. Consequently, questions of scientific and political representation take on new significance and enter into new relationships amid the hybridization of science and politics. The Anthropocene challenges scholars and practitioners of various fields to rethink concepts and practices of representation—and alternatives.
We thus welcome theoretical and empirical contributions addressing questions such as:
- What are the meanings, practices, and effects of representation in science and politics, and how are these intertwined?
- How is representation practiced, made, and contested in different empirical settings?
- How does the Anthropocene challenge existing practices and relations of representation?
- What forms of representation are appropriate or possible for a more-than-human world?
- What alternatives to dominant modes of representation are emerging, and what do they make possible?
Contributions may reflect theoretically on representation or engage with concrete cases and may involve research fields including: legal personhood and rights of nature, scientific modeling and visualization, the science-policy nexus, environmental and planetary governance, political ecology and ontology, ecological democracy, multispecies studies, and beyond.
Format
The event will include public keynote addresses and panel sessions on the first day, and a collaborative workshop on the second day, dedicated to collectively discuss, enrich and deepen the intricacies of representation in the Anthropocene.
Submission
If you would like to contribute to a panel:
Please submit an abstract of 300–400 words to alain....@unibas.ch and julian....@unibas.ch by May 15th. We welcome submissions from junior and senior scholars across disciplines. Panelist are expected to also take part in the Workshop on day two.
Travel and accommodation may be available for contributors — please indicate if funding would be required.
If you would like to attend the 2-day workshop without contributing to a panel:
Please feel free to briefly tell us about yourself and your interest in the workshop by writing to alain....@unibas.ch and julian....@unibas.ch by May 15th.
Best wishes,
Alain Müller and Julian Purrmann
Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology, University of Basel
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Julian Purrmann, MA
Doktorand der Kulturanthropologie | Wissenschaftlicher Assistent am Seminar für Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie | Universität Basel
PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology | Research assistant at the Seminar for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology | University of Basel