​

What role do descriptions have in the context of nature conservation? Rather than looking at descriptions as 'mere' representations of a phenomenon, certain descriptions have performative power and functions. Following Anna L. Tsing's “Call for Critical Description" (2013) this talk engages with the kind of description produced in interdisciplinary encounters between social scientists and natural scientists; encounters which express a common concern and curiosity for social life beyond the human. It also deals with those descriptions which already exist in and shape the happenings of the field.

The talk combines Tsing's approach with a broader introduction to a PhD thesis about a transboundary protected area along the former Iron Curtain borderland. It gives an insight into the thesis' current state, the case developments, and empirically grounded questions. Through close readings of field material, the concept of critical description will be further explored and discussed.

Markus Rudolfi is working as a research associate in the area of interpretative social research at the Institute of Sociology. His PhD project is an ethnography which focuses on the Bavarian Forest/Šumava transboundary protected area and asks about the more-than-human politics involved in process protection. More generally, his fields of interest span between science and technology studies, political ethnography, political ecology, and environmental sociology.

Der Vortrag findet über Zoom statt; bitte melden Sie sich unbedingt bei OLAT an:
https://olat-ce.server.uni-frankfurt.de/olat/auth/RepositoryEntry/16301391877?1

AK* „Kritische Soziologie“

*Gemeinsamer Arbeitskreis am Institut für Soziologie der Goethe-Universität und am Institut für Sozialforschung (IfS) Frankfurt am Main

Koordination: Birgit Blättel-Mink, Laura Hanemann, Stephan Lessenich, Susanne Martin

Kontakt: b.blaettel-mink@soz.uni-frankfurt.de