About

The idea of nature has been repeatedly pointed to as a contested, problematic concept underpinned by modern Euro-American, urban and Global North cosmologies. Therefore, certain programmatic realisations of the concept have been shot through with power differences, tension, and conflict. Hand in hand, the concept has shown plasticity to take on multiple meanings and has also been reimagined and incorporated into different forms of popular contestation. 

The evocation of nature, in its multiple meanings, serves both to establish organisational categories of beings, subjects and things and to question the borders that demarcate each one from the rest. Nature as experience, survival and symbolic field offers different possibilities for learning and ways of relating to the world. Finally, the analysis of the production of meanings attributed to this concept not only problematizes it but also transforms the place, the body and the concrete plan of nature.    

In this roundtable we propose a critical reading of the Wikipedia page dedicated to “nature” and, from there, suggest lines that may guide a reformulation of the text that comprises a critical and plural arrangement of the term. We hope to be able to submit the collaborative text to the Wikipedia platform.

This seventh roundtable of the “Roundtable of Knowledges” series stems from the workshop “Environmental Humanities and Contested Natures” that took place on February 1st. The roundtable will continue the debate initiated in the workshop to deepen a collective reflection on the concept of nature. We have invited our colleague Joana Sousa to lead the session.

In this, the fourth roundtable to take place in digital format, we invite you to join us and participate in these moments of reflective writing.

Because this is intended to be a moment of conviviality and informal discussion, and because the best ideas often emerge around the table, we suggest that you bring a drink or food to our “virtual table”, for a snack shared at a distance.

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This activity takes place through the Zoom platform, with compulsory registration, limited to 20 places, accepted on a first come, first served basis. | Approximate duration: 3h