Lecture Series on Sustainability

Climate change, extractivist devastation, ocean acidification, and the accelerating loss of species continue to worsen worldwide, with environmental damage intensifying across the globe. As the ecological crisis deepens, the humanities and social sciences are called upon to develop resources—conceptual, analytical, and methodological—in order to make sense of the current situation and to respond to its challenges.

The concept of sustainability—once central to environmental discourse—has been criticized for its association with technocratic, managerial, and neoliberal agendas that fail to address the structural, historical, and cultural dimensions of environmental degradation. At the same time, the crisis demands more than critique: it calls for innovative ways of thinking, organizing, and acting that engage with the social, political, ethical, and symbolic foundations of human-environment relations. 

This interdisciplinary lecture series brings together scholars from across the humanities and social sciences to examine the ecological crisis from diverse and complementary angles, including critical sustainability studies, decolonial ecologies, environmental justice, or posthumanist theory. By bringing these perspectives in dialogue, the lecture series aims to push the debate beyond sustainability, toward new ways of thinking and acting in the face of ecological transformation.

Registration Deadline: October 3, 2025

Please register by sending an email to the course coordinators Amelie Kutter (kutter@europa-uni.de) and Estela Schindel (schindel@europa-uni.de).

Date: October 13, 2025 until February 2, 2026
Time start (CET): every Monday from 4:15 to 5:45 p.m.
Location: online for ERUA Students; in presence for Viadrina students
Course language: English