Dear friends of AURA:

With apologies for the short notice, I’m proud to announce the next AURA slow seminar, to be held on 16 April 2018 between 17.00 and 20.00 at Jens Christian Schous vej 3, 8000 Aarhus C (1451, 515).  

We’ll be reading Julie Livingston’s new manuscript, Rainmaking and Other Forgotten Things: A Planetary Parable.  This powerful (and very short) book argues that “self-devouring growth” has become so taken-for-granted that we cannot see alternatives, even as the environments that have supported human wellbeing are being destroyed. Livingston comes from a background as a medical anthropologist, with research in Botswana; her earlier work was honored with the prestigious MacArthur Award, perhaps the highest honor a “mid-career” scholar can receive in the United States.  In this book, she uses her research on public health in Botswana to reach out to the environment; thus, for example, if fresh water supplies are depleted (e.g., by emptying aquifers to support commercial beef export and diamond mining), human health cannot be maintained.  By writing a “planetary parable,” Livingston sets a stimulating and pioneering example for the role of social science scholarship in addressing the Anthropocene.  

Livingston has given permission for the seminar to read this still in-process manuscript, but it is not for general distribution.  Please let Mia Korsbaek (korsbaek@cas.au.dk) know if you would like to attend, and you will receive a pdf copy.  However, please do not distribute it outside the seminar.  

I hope to see many of you there!

Best,

Anna Tsing