• News
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Announcements
      • Calls for Papers
      • Vacancies
      • New PhD-research
    • Events
      • Events
      • NICA recommends
      • Event Calendar
  • Education
    • About NICA’s educational program
    • Course Overview
    • Core Courses
  • Research
    • Dissertation Defenses
    • Current PhD Research
    • Past PhD-Research
  • Organization
    • About us
    • Mission Statement
    • Becoming a member
    • Organize an activity
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Event | Political Ecologies 2021-2022: “The Ecology of Forms”

September 2, 2021/in Events /by Pepita
The Ecology of Forms

Date: Sept 17, Oct 29, Nov 19 (semester 1), TBA (semester 2)
Location:
TBA
Registration:
 maithri.maithri@student.uva.nl or j.g.c.debloois@uva.nl/j.diamanti@uva.nl
Credits: 6 ECTS
Organizers: Joost de Bloois and Jeff Diamanti

Organized by Joost de Bloois and Jeff Diamanti For registration or further information, please contact maithri.maithri@student.uva.nl or j.g.c.debloois@uva.nl/j.diamanti@uva.nl 

Through reading groups, masterclasses, and public lectures from international scholars and artists engaged in the creative and theoretical study of ecological relation and crisis, this year two of “Ecology of Forms” will move through distinct but overlapping forms that focalize contestation and collectivity across a multitude of vectors: economic, legal, environmental, architectural, infrastructural, cultural, and so on. Forms can include anything from a watershed, general strike, or class action lawsuit; subsea mine or natural gas pipeline; or an assembly of bodies in the thick of a morning commute. Forms put into relation on the terms of their arrangement, historicity, and materiality. Some more obviously than others. Maybe there are new forms emerging amidst the crumbling in of the present. Maybe there are some that we tend to overlook because they’re so sedimented into our experience of the world that we forget they are themselves provisional and mutable. And maybe there are forms that we want to expose for the conceit of their (abrasive) arrangements: the oil terminal, for instance, or the fossil fueled family. Furthermore, we will ask which new forms of (non-academic) writing and thinking are needed to tackle such issues. We will look into different forms of writing and visualizing possible ‘ecologies of form.’ Part of the idea is to gather theoretical concepts around situated and historically contingent forms that materialize a polis in place. But we’re also interested in exploring the animacy and nonhuman force of forms into domains of humanistic and social scientific inquiry. Graduate students and faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to attend.  

Tentative schedule

Semester 1 

Friday, September 17 @ 1pm: Introductory Meeting
Readings (email seminar assistant for dropbox access):

  • Jason W. Moore, “Amsterdam is Standing on Norway Part 2”. Journal of Agrarian Change 10.2 (April 2010). 
  • Elizabeth M. DeLoughrey, Introduction to Allegories of the Anthropocene. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2019. 

Friday, October 29
Masterclass (10-12) and Public Lecture 16:00-18:00) by Dr. Amanda Boetzkes
Readings: TBA 

Friday, November 19th
Masterclass (10-12) and Public Lecture 16:00-18:00) by Dr. Daniel Barber
Readings: TBA  

Semester 2 

January – May TBD

Course details

rMA and PhD students are eligible to take this workshop for creditBA and MA students are welcome to attend workshops (not for credit)

  • 1 EC for attendance to one session with a response paper (see below)
  • 6 EC for attendance across one term with 2 response papers and a final research paper (see below)

Tasks / Assessment (6EC)

(1) reading compulsory readings and related literature pertaining to the topic at hand;

(2) writing a Reading Report for two of the meetings about the material read (2 x 20% = 40% of final grade); or one for 1 EC

(3) attending the sessions and engaging your views during discussions;

(4) writing a Final Paper on a chosen topic (60% of final grade) for 6 EC;

(5) present your preliminary findings prior to the final session (date/time tbc). Reading Reports

Each participant seeking 6 EC will complete two reading reports during the tutorial, which will be graded (2 x 20% = 40% of final grade). These reading reports should be between 1000 – 1200 words in length (not including references), and should be emailed to the course instructors 24 hours before the relevant seminar (i.e. usually this is before Thursday 17:00). Please remember include your name/student number and a bibliography at the end of the text. While we expect that most students will choose one of the readings for the reading report, we expect you to show your familiarity with the other required reading for that week (i.e. citing those texts in relation to your chosen text). 

Instructions

A reading report is a “mini-review”. So please also orient yourself towards book reviews – see, for example, the advice given in Wendy Belcher “Writing the Academic Book Review”.

In general, a reading response should answer (most or all of) the following questions:

  • Who is the author? What is the subject matter of the book / article? What type of text is it (who is the intended audience)?
  • What are the author’s motivations/reasons for writing this book/ article (as indicated by the author himself or apparent from context)?
  • What is the structure of the book/article (how does the book present its argument)?
  • What does the book/article achieve (what do we learn that we did not know / what does an informed audience of scholars learn that the scientific community did not know)?
  • How is the book connected to the state of research on the topic (other important publications or public debates on the topic)?
  • Is it well written (does the structure make sense? Is the argument convincing? Does the author achieve an economy of presentation i.e.: Is there an overload of information, or a scarcity of information, or does the author hit the right balance?)
  • What did you personally find most interesting? Where do you agree with the author, where do you not agree? How can you apply the book/article to your own research? Did the book/article prompt you to think about the topic further – and if so, in which way?

The bulk of your response should be devoted to critically assessing the CONTENT of the chapter/article; information such as author’s biography, etc., should be clearly but BRIEFLY addressed. Additionally, do not make the bulk of your response your OPINION; rather, we would like to see evidence of your ability to critically and productively engage with the author’s posits, conclusions, or viewpoints. 

Instructions for Final Paper

The final paper is a mini-paper on a self-chosen topic that should engage the themes and readings of the tutorial. The required length is 2500 – 3000 words and the deadline is Friday 17 January 2020 (before 17:00) for semester 1 credit, and May 28 (before 17:00) for semester 2 credit. Email final paper to both Drs. de Bloois and Diamanti in a single message. We will schedule an additional meeting so that each student participant has the chance to present their paper theme/concept and receive feedback. 



Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates about our news, lectures, seminars, workshops and more.

Share this page

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates about our news, lectures, seminars, workshops and more.

NICA archive 2010 – 2020

Read all articles published by Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis 2010 to 2020.

Affiliated Universities

  • Leiden University
  • Tilburg University
  • Radboud University
  • University of Amsterdam
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
  • University of Maastricht
  • Utrecht University

National Research Schools

  • ARCHON, Research School of Archaeology
  • Huizinga Instituut
  • LOT, Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics
  • NISIS, Netherlands Interuniversity School of Islamic Studies
  • NOG, Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies
  • NOSTER, Netherlands School for Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion
  • OIKOS, National Research School in Classical Studies
  • OSK, Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History
  • OSL, Onderzoekschool Literatuurwetenschap
  • OZSW, Dutch Research School of Philosophy
  • Posthumus Institute, Research School for Economic and Social History
  • Research School for Medieval Studies
  • RSPH, Research School Political History
  • RMeS, Research School for Media Studies
  • WTMC, Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture

Useful Links

  • Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA)
  • Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR)
  • Amsterdam Research Center for Gender and Sexuality (ARC-GS)
  • Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA)
  • Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM)
  • Babylon: Center for the Study of Superdiversity, Tilburg University
  • Benelux Association for the Study of Art, Culture, and the Environment (BASCE)
  • Centre for BOLD Cities
  • Centre for Gender and Diversity, Maastricht University
  • Leiden University Centre for Cultural Analysis (LUCAS)
  • Platform for Postcolonial Readings
  • Radboud Institute for Culture & History (RICH)
  • Research Institute of the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies (PTR)

© 2023 - Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA)
Website by Nikolai NL Design Studio
  • Privacy
  • Contact
Scroll to top

We use cookies only for the purposes of measuring effectiveness of our website. Our Privacy Statement.

OK

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy
Accept settingsHide notification only