On March 3 - 4, 2020, The Environmental Humanities Research Cluster hosted a symposium, “
Approaching Extinction, Contesting Extinction,” at Miami University, with keynote lectures by
Kathryn Yusoff (Department of Geography, Queen Mary University of London) and
Wesley Leonard, (Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California–Riverside).
Recent studies indicate that a mass species extinction is well underway on our planet. Wildlife populations have
decreased by 60% in the last few decades and 70% of agricultural diversity has disappeared. By investigating entanglements between life extinction and political imagination as well as social drivers and cultural dimensions of extinction, we hope to generate strategies for countering or mobilizing fears about death and extinction and enabling collective response and action.
TUESDAY, MARCH 3
10:30am
Myaamia Center
Welcome & Presentation
Shriver Dolibois Room
11:30am
Leonardo Figueroa Helland & Abigail Perez Aguilera, The New School
“Decolonize, Reindigenize: The Biocultural Diversity Crisis and Indigenous Resurgence”
Shriver Dolibois Room
1:30pm
Marjolein Oele, University of San Francisco
“Philosophizing Extinction: On the Loss of World, and the Possibility of Rebirth through the Language of the Sea”
Shriver Dolibois Room
4:30pm
Keynote Address: Kathryn Yusoff
“The Inhumanities”
Followed by reception
Shriver Dolibois Room
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4
9:30am
Lisa Ottum, Xavier University
“What We Talk About When We Talk About Extinction”
Shriver Dolibois Room
10:15am
Ryan Heryford, California State University–East Bay
“‘the word for bringing bodies back from water': Oceanic Ecopoetics, Black Life, and the Re-Imagining of Extinction”
Shriver Dolibois Room
11:00am
Alex Benson, Bard College
“A Curious Survivance: John Oskison's Baja Rat”
Shriver Dolibois Room
1:00pm
Closing Keynote Address: Wesley Leonard
"Contesting Extinction: Toward a Praxis of Language Reclamation"
Opportunity to view Myaamia Ribbonwork Exhibition
Miami Art Museum, 801 S Patterson
5:30pm
"Changing Climate, Changing Communities" Exhibition Reception
Oxford Community Art Center, 10 S College Ave
Approaching Extinction, Contesting Extinction was funded by a Humanities Research Collaborative Grant from the Miami University Humanities Center and a grant from Athabasca University. Please direct all inquiries about the volume and symposium to envhum@miamioh.edu. 
