This multidisciplinary research group represents an assemblage of junior scholars working with the socio-ecological and philosophical challenges posed by the Anthropocene. Combining different fields such as anthropology, philosophy, art criticism, critical theory, and ecocriticism, the group’s interests centre around themes such as ecological thinking, human-nonhuman relationships, anthropogenic climate change, environmental ethics, arts and science, and politics of globalization.

The ambiguous title, Eco-sense, serves to underline three definitions of ‘sense’, which together map out the scope of the group’s research areas:

1. The word ‘sense’ first and foremost relates to the idea of ‘senses’, and as such this represents our exploration of questions related to the body in relation to knowledge production, taking seriously concepts such as experience, perception, sensitivity, and intelligence in the context of generating and gathering information about the more-than-human-world.
2. ‘Sense’ can also refer to the idea of ‘meaning’, as we engage with the discussion of how humans make sense of the world. How are concepts such as ecology, nature, and environment negotiated, and, more importantly, how are these reconfigured in the age of Anthropocene? 
3. Finally, ‘sense’ may also refer to the normative idea of judgment, as related to the condition of ‘having sense’ or ‘being sensible’. This theme underlines  our theoretical preoccupation with discussions of environmental justice, ecological ethics, and socio-ecological politics and practice.

The research group’s key objective is to study and propose new understandings of how the social and the ecological intersect, creating productive and destructive tensions, whether these be in practices of industrial agriculture, scientific communities, the contemporary art institution, digital media or moving images.

Like any other assemblage, the research group is open to building new relationships with scholars interested in similar or related fields. The research group is a subgroup nested under and supported by the Center for Environmental Humanities (CEH) at Aarhus University.

Researchers: Aliya Say, Trine My Thygaard-Nielsen, Nicolai Skiveren