22nd Jan – Brigid Hains and Richard Fisher
Science communication that makes sense.
In this session, two experienced editors from the digital magazine Aeon will share advice and insights on how to develop, pitch and write long-form science essays for a general, global audience. Aeon’s mission is to explore and communicate knowledge that helps us make sense of ourselves and the world. The magazine works with leading thinkers in science, philosophy, psychology, society and culture to publish well-written, thought-provoking ideas for a general readership – at length, and in depth.
Find out how it works in a behind-the scenes talk and Q&A with Aeon’s editorial director and co-founder Brigid Hains, and science editor Richard Fisher, an honorary professor in science communication at UCL.
29th Jan – Katarina Almeida-Warren
Chimpanzee cultures and our shared heritage.
Chimpanzee populations across Africa exhibit remarkable cultural diversity, with distinct tool-use traditions and behaviours that are passed down through generations. Studying these cultural traditions through an archaeological lens is providing critical insights into our own evolutionary origins by revealing the behavioural, cognitive and cultural foundations we share with our closest living relatives. Yet, today, chimpanzee populations face not only biological extinction but also the loss of cultural knowledge, critical to their survival and resilience in a changing world. Recognising our shared primate cultural heritage and reframing culture as integral to nature offers a pathway toward understanding ourselves as part of nature’s complexity, not apart from it—a perspective essential for addressing the intertwined crises facing both human and non-human worlds.
5th Feb Elvina Crowe
Interspecies Assemblies and the Creative Politics of Representing More-than-Human Lifeworlds.
Interspecies assemblies are collective practices that seek to include more-than-human voices in deliberative processes where, through imaginative role-play, human participants embody nonhuman beings and speak from their perspectives. Revived in activist traditions, these practices have a strong history of animating nonhuman voices in public consciousness, making them valuable socio-political tools for ecological advocacy. Current literature is dispersed across disciplines, so here I present a scoping review that synthesises existing work and case studies, situating interspecies assemblies historically and examining their contemporary manifestations. Building on decolonial, feminist, and multispecies understandings of representation in deliberative democracy, the paper highlights the value of arts-based and embodied participation, as storytelling cultivates empathy and shapes more affective and effective forms of ecological governance.
12th Feb – NO MEETING THIS WEEK
19th Feb TBC Please drop Carlyn a line if you would like to speak this week
26th Feb Please drop Carlyn a line if you would like to speak this week
5th March Connie McDermott & Joe Boyle
An interactive ‘drop in’ session focussing on the Reverse Gaze.
More information to follow
12th March Please drop Carlyn a line if you would like to speak this week