18-19 June 2025, Ecole Paris – PSL University, Paris, France
How do people become attuned to environmental issues? What role do instruments and forms of quantification and visualization of ecological knowledge play in these processes? And in return, what do these knowledge do to people—what expanded relations to the world do they help cultivate?
The colloquium “Making (Ourselves) Sensitive through the Ecological Knowledges of Modernity” (June 18–19, 2025) take as its object the encounter between the knowledge practices that populate environmental inquiry and the sensory, affective, and aesthetic work through which they unfold. The aim is to hold together perceptions, affects, and aesthetics in analyzing the ways people become (and are made) sensitive through the handling of instruments traditionally associated with scientific objectivity.
The three sessions structuring the event explore this work in its plurality, in contact with various forms of knowledge and epistemic tools. First, in specific territories—coastal areas, the surroundings of contaminated nuclear sites, or zones shaped by the “Zero Net Artificialisation” policy—when collective engagement transforms them into singular public problems. Second, through the intimate transformations involved in ecological commitments and experiments, whether in scientific or domestic settings. Finally, through the field practices and tools of scientists and experts dealing with more-than-human entities—so-called “undesirable” animals, birds, or particles.
The colloquium is open to the public, with registration required via this link. Please note that the event will be held in French.
