The WIAS Seminar Series “Humanities in the Anthropocene” Vol. 9, Open Lecture – “Environmental Aesthetics: History, Theory, Politics” was held on February 27, 2023. Professor Timo Müller, Chair of American Studies, Department of English Literature, University of Konstanz, Germany, specializing in aesthetics and literature, was invited to give a presentation on the history of research on “environmental aesthetics” and his own views on the politics of aesthetic representations of the natural environment and was discussed with 19 participants.
At the beginning of the lecture, Müller introduced the Off the Road project at the University of Konstanz. This is an effort to systematically reexamine the relationship between human beings by historically reconsidering the automobile culture through reaffirming the now almost forgotten fact that automobile travel was thoroughly environmentally friendly before the advent of the current system of automobiles running on concrete roads.
As a theory behind such a concrete project, Müller then introduced in detail the concept of “environmental aesthetics” proposed by the philosopher Gernot Böhme (1937-2022). Müller discussed the potential of “environmental aesthetics” to replace the traditional emphasis on aesthetic judgment and subject-object relationships in nature aesthetics with a more comprehensive understanding of environmental awareness.
In the process of explaining Böhme’s approach with reference to recent studies on New Materialism and other topics, Müller also introduced a number of books, making this seminar very informative.
The seminar was planned and organized by our lecturer, Udith Dematagoda, and the video of the seminar will soon be available to the public on YouTube.
Event Overview
- Speaker: Timo Müller, Professor, Chair of American Studies, Department of English Literature, University of Konstanz
- Moderator: Udith Dematagoda, Assistant Professor, Waseda Institute for Advanced Studies, Waseda University
- Chair: Satomi Yamamoto, Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University
- Date/Time: February 27, 2023 (Mon.), 17:00~19:00 (JST)
- Location: Online meeting via Zoom
- Language: English
- Prospected Audience: Faculty members, Researchers, Graduate students
- Organized by: Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS)
- Co-Organizers: Global Japanese Studies Model Unit, Waseda University Top Global University Project, Ryusaku Tsunoda Center of Japanese Culture, Waseda Society of Art History
Ideology and Aesthetics Research Network
* The video of the seminar will soon be available to the public on YouTube.
