Join the Centre for the Study of Democracy for a talk with Professor Professor Mihaela Mihai (University of Edinburgh).
While the scientific evidence around climate change and the reduction of biodiversity is overwhelming, commensurate political action is not forthcoming. In response to generalised inertia, numerous environmental scientists, activists, writers, theologians, journalists and members of communities who have borne the brunt of the crisis – including historically exploited Indigenous people, racialised and impoverished populations – are increasingly vocal about their ecological emotions, ie, emotions tracking various forms of environmental destruction and accompanied by experiences of discomfort, pain, and suffering. Situated at the intersection of political theory, sociology and the environmental humanities, this talk will provide a political reading of increasingly numerous testimonies of ecological emotions. I suggest that, far from being the expression of a self-indulgent, liberal-individualist and therapy-obsessed culture, the activists, scientists and community leaders testifying to their eco-distress simultaneously instantiate forms of non-alienated relationality to the environment and act as unelected, self-authorised political representatives of a disenfranchised constituency.
About the speaker
Mihaela Mihai is Professor of political theory at the University of Edinburgh. Her work touches on political emotions, memory politics and aesthetics. She is the author of Negative Emotions and Transitional Justice (Columbia University Press, 2016) and Political Memory and the Aesthetics of Care (Stanford University Press, 2022).
Location
Westminster Forum, 5th floor, 32–38 Wells Street, London, W1T 3UW
The event will take place in person. If you have any questions, please email the seminar convener, Dr Matthew Fluck at [email protected].
About the centre
The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), established in 1989, is based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. At the Centre, academics working in politics and international relations undertake socially engaged, methodologically diverse and often interdisciplinary research that aims to address a range of critical political challenges in relation to democracy worldwide.
CSD has a longstanding international reputation for research excellence through a programme of publications, events and collaborations with academics, practitioners, policymakers, and activists. Research in Politics and International Studies at CSD was ranked 4th highest in the UK for impact in the Research Excellence Framework 2021.
The Centre has established numerous collaborations with scholars and universities around the world and has hosted encounters with public intellectuals including Luc Boltanski, Judith Butler, Stuart Hall, Bruno Latour, Richard Rorty, Quentin Skinner, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Charles Taylor, James Tully, and Michael Walzer. The CR Parekh lecture, instituted by Lord Bhikhu Parekh, has included lectures by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arundhati Roy, and Ashis Nandy.
CSD recognises that responding to contemporary social and political challenges requires engagement beyond the academy, so actively welcomes dialogue and collaboration with researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and activists around the world. The Centre is directed by Professor Nitasha Kaul.
