The Amerikas Colloquium
On Thursday, June 23, we hear Laura Otto on "Negotiating Responsibility"
23.06.2022 at 18:15
Dr. Laura McAdam-Otto (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main):
Negotiating Responsibility. Observations on Environmental Change in the Mexican Caribbean.
The world-famous Riviera Maya in Mexico is – like other coastal areas – increasingly affected by the arrival of Sargassum algae. In 2011, it has begun arriving in atypical amounts, posing both environmental and economic threats. While the algae contribute to beach degradation, erosion, and ocean pollution, it also smells, does not look aesthetic in the eyes of tourists, and makes swimming in the ocean difficult. The root cause of its massive arrivals cannot be clearly assigned to a specific actor or group of actors, and different people concerned have varying ideas about what should (not) be done with the algae. Against the backdrop of ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Mexico between 2019-2022, the talk asks how questions of responsibility become increasingly complex in the Anthropocene. I demonstrate how responsibility for the algae is negotiated, ascribed, and (not) assumed.
Download Program AMERIKAS (1 MB)
When? Thursday, June 23, 18:15
Where? Oettingenstr. 67, Room L155 and via Zoom-Meeting.
Get the Link by writing an email to
carolin.luiprecht@campus.lmu.de