Lunchtime-Kolloquium Environmental Humanities: Dr. Dan Tamïr – „Flying and Buzzing Between the Two Cultures: Connecting the Humanities and the Natural Sciences in Mosquitopia“

Das Lunchtime-Kolloquium dient dem Austausch über individuelle Forschungsprojekte und gemeinsame Forschungsthemen. Während der Lunchtime stellen wir uns Projekte und Ansätze gegenseitig vor (ca. 20 Min. Präsentation plus Diskussion). Am Donnerstag, den 24.06., wird uns Dan Tamïr bereits vor Veröffentlichung das „Mosquitopia“-Projekt vorstellen, das er zusammen mit Marcus Hall geleitet hat.

Abstract: The collected volume Mosquitopia: The Place of Pests in a Healthy World includes contributions by entomologists, anthropologists, historians, ecologists, philosophers, parasitologists, artists and sociologists – all examining the complex relations between humans and mosquitoes. The collected volume is now in its final production stage, with an expected publication date later this Summer. Whereas this book provides a considerably wide view of human-mosquito relations, in this talk we may rather concentrate on its systematic and methodological features. How can one bring together researchers and professionals from different and quite distant disciplines? Can one really connect different fields of scholarship and art? If yes, how? If not – why? How coherent and cohesive can such a collected volume be? What are the benefits and what are the limitations of such an interdisciplinary cooperation? What current needs does such a volume answer to? What needs doesn’t it? The Environmental Humanities are an excellent place for bringing together the two cultures; Mosquitopia is an attempt to do it.