In societies deeply permeated by uncertainties, risk has long become a buzzword. Old and novel risks seem to be lurking everywhere and are increasingly interrelated. The pandemic has once again revealed that individual health risks have long become deeply intertwined with political risks. But such related risks exist in other realms as well, e.g. agrochemicals constitute risks for the environment, but their ban might entail economic risks, establishing kin can mean sharing health risks, but also extend to political exclusion. Concerns about who, what, in what combination constitutes a “risky relation” transform individual relations and societies. While the notion of risk inadvertedly concerns time horizons and visions of the future, it has important consequences for the present. The understanding of social, political, economic or medical relations in terms of risk translates into forms of governance and power differentials, but also impacts everyday life. How do people deal with diverse environmental, political, social or health risks? What is described as a risk in which contexts, and with which consequences? Which practices (of knowledge production, quantification, etc.) and experiences produce “risk” as a meaningful category for collective and individual actors? Which technologies, organisms or models transform how different risks are related and/or their relations obscured?
The laboratory offers a selected group of advanced PhD students and early post-doctoral scholars (max. 12 participants) the unique opportunity to discuss their work with two distinguished guest scholars and present their findings and ideas at an interdisciplinary forum.
The deadline for the submission of applications is 15 March 2022.
You can find more information here: 6th Ethno Lab_Risky relations_2022_CfP