The idea of the ‘human’ dates back to the founding of modernity, now hurtling towards collapse. As this process intensifies it may bring about a fundamental reconsideration of modern ideas regarding which entities possess such attributes as agency, speech, and reason. If so what kinds of narratives and knowledge traditions can we turn to for guidance about what might lie ahead?
Bio: Amitav Ghosh is an award-winning writer, who was born in Calcutta and grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He is the author of two books of non-fiction, including The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016), a collection of essays, and ten novels. In 2018 he became the first English-language writer to receive India’s highest literary honor, the Jnanpith Award. His most recent publication is Gun Island, a novel.
The Maitra lecture series, established in 2001, seeks to enrich the intellectual life of UC Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz community.
Beyond the End of the World comprises a year-long research and exhibition project and public lecture series, directed by T. J. Demos of UCSC’s Center for Creative Ecologies. The project brings leading international thinkers and cultural practitioners to UC Santa Cruz to discuss what lies beyond dystopian catastrophism, and asks how we can cultivate radical futures of social justice and ecological flourishing. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation John E. Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Culture. For more information visit BEYOND.UCSC.EDU.
Presented by The Humanities Institute and the Center for Creative Ecologies.
If you have disability-related needs, please contact us at thi@ucsc.edu or (831) 459-5655.
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FREE and open to the public with registration.
Buses and campus shuttles stop at Porter/Rachel Carson College.
Parking attendants will be on site to issue $5 parking permits in Arts Lot 126.
Doors open 30 min. prior to the advertised event start time.