Julia Frengs, professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, will give the talk, “Imagining Sustainable Futures: What Literature Can do for the Earth,” at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 30 in the Nebraska Union’s Swanson Auditorium and via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public.
Her talk continues this academic year’s CAS Inquire series, “Sustainable Futures.”
“This talk considers fictional and poetic literary engagement by island writers from the Pacific and Indian Oceans,” Frengs said. “We first ask: what can imaginative fiction do in the face of extreme weather and climate catastrophe? What is the role of narrative fiction in drawing attention to and facilitating creative solutions to challenges such as climate change, militourism, hydrocolonialism, resource extraction, etc.? How does literature empower us to think creatively about how to construct sustainable futures?”
Geographer Patrick Bitterman, philosopher Mark van Roojen, and physicist Ken Bloom gave last year’s talks in the series. The final talk with geologist Cara Burberry is scheduled for Feb. 27, and a panel discussion with the speakers in March 2024 will cap the series.
The series launched in September 2019, and themes have included “The Rise of the Machines,” “Searching for Common Ground in a Polarized World,” and “Pain and Pleasure.”
