Laboratory: Anthropology of Environment | Human Relations

Research group for the ethnographic inquiry into ecologies, infrastructures, bodies and knowledges
Laboratory: Anthropology of Environment | Human Relations

Book talk: “The Unlively: Protesting Fossil Fuel Pollution with David Buckel”, with author Sofia Varino

The Lab is excited to announce our second public event in this winter term 2026/27 series: Book talk: “The Unlively: Protesting Fossil Fuel Pollution with David Buckel” (Routledge, 2026), with author Sofia Varino (Lab Anthropology of Environment | Human Relations, HU Berlin) The Unlively: Protesting Fossil Fuel Pollution with David …

Field trip: “Ethnographic attuning to plants: Explorations with the tiny forest Moawald” 

A core question in plant ethnography is: How can human sensoria and learned modes of perception capture the existences, lifeworlds, and practices of world-shaping through and among plants? Certainly, this needs experimentality, creativity, and a commitment to transdisciplinarity. In this field trip, we want to explore possibilities of ethnographic attuning …

New Publication: “Earthly Models. Ethnographic Encounters in Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research”

Hot off the presses! Anja Klein’s Monograph “Earthly Models. Ethnographic Encounters in Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research” has just been published with transcript in September 2026! About the book: Models of floods, disease, lakes, and fish don’t arrive ready-made – they’re patched together from code, data, theory, habits, and disagreement. Moving between …

Program released: Workshop “Impulses for a public and engaged environmental anthropology. Concepts, perspectives, and politics”

Update: The program for our upcoming workshop ‘Impulses for a public and engaged environmental anthropology. Concepts, perspectives, and politics’ is ready! You can find it here (PDF). We are really looking forward to fabulous conceptual inputs on subjects like infrastructure, water, and city, and on concepts like ‘more-than-human urban imaginaries’, …

Joint Lab – Publication: Habitability

The first collaborative publication on Habitability, our joint subject over the past years, is released! Title: Habitability Authors: LAEHR, Britta Acksel, Petra Beck, Milena Bister, Carola von der Dick, Desirée Hetzel, Alexander W. Schindler, Fotini Takirdiki Published in the “Environmental Humanities Glossary” of the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, …

Workshop: Impulses for a public and engaged environmental anthropology. Concepts, perspectives, and politics

Organisation: Desirée Hetzel, Emilie Köhler, Elisabeth Luggauer, Arno Pascht (DGSKA, AG Umwelthnologie) & Milena Bister, Valeska Flor, Oliwia Murawska (DGEKW, Kommission Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen) 8.-9. Oktober 2026, LMU München * Deutsch siehe unten Despite the increased public focus on extreme weather events, issues such as ecology and nature conservation are, on the …

“Cities as Atmospheric Infrastructures: An Analysis of Activist Responses to Respiratory Illness in the Czech Republic”, Susanna Trnka, 14 July, 6-7:30 pm

Cities and the activities urban infrastructures enable have long been noted for making demonstrable impacts on the surrounding atmosphere. Cities also provide unique social and political infrastructures, promoting particular forms of cohesion and fracture, including opportunities for promoting political consciousness and inspiring collective activism. This paper introduces the concept of …