submitted by underhil@augsburg.edu
Anthropocene. (Adj.) “relating to or denoting the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.”
The 2019 River Semester will take place in the framework of the one-year project entitled “Mississippi. An Anthropocene River,” developed and organized by the Berlin-based Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, in collaboration with numerous international partners including funding from the German Foreign Ministry. This year, students on the River Semester will be joined by a distinguished interdisciplinary groups of researchers, artists, and stakeholders from civil society who will investigate the river basin to develop local approaches to issues of global change and develop novel methods of research and education. The journey down the Mississippi River from the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico will connect the different research sites and activate debates on how to analyze and deal with the anthropogenic impact on the river system. On-site workshops, public lectures, field walks, forums, excursions, and an extensive multimedia documentation will synthesize the site-specific issues and research outputs. A number of international students (undergraduate and graduate) will join the expedition, and Augsburg students interested in joining this amazing experience should register by the Apr. 15th deadline. http://www.augsburg.edu/river Faculty and staff are invited to consider ways to connect with this rich array of field research and community engagement activities this fall.