Rethinking the Politics of Environment: Interconnected Conceptions of State, Citizenship, Consumerism, and Environment
Main funder
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 5 000,00
Funding program
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/04/2020
Project end date: 31/12/2022
Summary
Saving the future of humankind and the Earth is the major political challenge of our time. For decades, plethora of scientific evidence on how human actions are destroying the global living conditions on Earth has emerged. This evidence on the complex interconnections between people and nature have caused intense political controversies between and within countries in varying, often transnationally linked historical circumstances. When debating different environmental problems such as the use of fossil fuels, toxic chemical compounds, atomic waste, or overconsumption of natural resources, societal and political actors have not only dealt with explicitly environmental policies. While the evolvement of global and local environmental politics has been significant phenomena, the rise of environmental consciousness has forced societies to reconsider the role even more fundamental political questions, such as the relationship of state and citizenship, the meaning and practices of democracy, and the limits of consumerism as a dominant lifestyle. Therefore, the fundamental point of contention has been around these wider conceptions that ultimately structure our understanding of the world, social and political relations, and human-nature relationship.
This international workshop brings together scholars of different disciplines such as history, political science, and sociology to discuss how varying conceptions of state, citizenship, consumerism, and nature have evolved within different spheres of political and public life. The workshop discussions will cover a wide set of political agency from states to parties to NGOs, and take into consideration a multitude of local, national, transnational, and global environmental questions, problems, and proposed solutions. In addition, the Workshop aims to broaden scholarly perspectives from European politics to the global sphere. Focus on the historical continuities and changes on these issues will not only provide valuable long-term perspective on the ongoing, heated debates on environmental problems; by inspecting the processes of historical continuity and change in transnational historical situations, workshop will help relativize current hegemonic discourses on human-nature relationship and bring them into new light.
This international workshop brings together scholars of different disciplines such as history, political science, and sociology to discuss how varying conceptions of state, citizenship, consumerism, and nature have evolved within different spheres of political and public life. The workshop discussions will cover a wide set of political agency from states to parties to NGOs, and take into consideration a multitude of local, national, transnational, and global environmental questions, problems, and proposed solutions. In addition, the Workshop aims to broaden scholarly perspectives from European politics to the global sphere. Focus on the historical continuities and changes on these issues will not only provide valuable long-term perspective on the ongoing, heated debates on environmental problems; by inspecting the processes of historical continuity and change in transnational historical situations, workshop will help relativize current hegemonic discourses on human-nature relationship and bring them into new light.
Principal Investigator
Other persons related to this project (JYU)
Contact person (yes/no): Yes |
Primary responsible unit
Follow-up groups
Profiling area: School of Wellbeing (University of Jyväskylä JYU) JYU.Well
