On 23rd January 2017, BNCL co-hosted a roundtable workshop entitled „Exploring Marine and Coastal Epistemologies“ at Hamburg University. The workshop brought together twenty human geographers, social and cultural anthropologists, historians and sociologists from universities and research institutes in Bremen, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Kiel and Dublin for a cross-thematic dialogue focussed on marine and coastal knowledge practices. Please find the workshop report here.

Working with nature – and not against it – is a global trend in coastal management. This ethnography of coastal protection by lab member Friederike Gesing follows the increasingly popular approach of „soft“ protection to the Aotearoa New Zealand coast. Friederike Gesing analyses a political controversy over hard and soft protection measures, and introduces a growing community of practice involved in projects of working with nature. Dune restoration volunteers, coastal management experts, surfer-scientists, and Maori conservationists are engaged in projects ranging from do-it-yourself erosion control, to the reconstruction of native nature, and soft engineering „in concert with natural processes“. With soft protection, Friederike argues, we can witness a new sociotechnical imaginary in the making.

The book (E-Book or softcover) can be ordered from the publisher here. It is also available as an open access version via the State and University Library Bremen.

Am 15. Juli 2015 fand am Institut für Ethnologie und Kulturwissenschaft der Universität Bremen der vom Bremen NatureCultures Lab organisierte Workshop „Building Experimental, Collaborative Ethnography: Experimenting with the Asthma Files Platform“ mit Kim und Mike Fortun statt. Weiterlesen →

Im Sommersemester 2015 hat das Bremen NatureCultures Lab den Schwerpunkt „Marine Humanities“. Unter diesem Schlagwort loten wir die Möglichkeiten einer NaturenKulturen-Forschung der Küsten und Meere aus und arbeiten an der Vernetzung mit anderen sozialwissenschaftlich, kulturwissenschaftlich und kulturhistorisch forschenden Wissenschaftler*innen an der Uni Bremen und darüber hinaus.

Sitzungen im Sommersemester 2015: Weiterlesen →