Speakers: Dr. Yoalli Rodriguez Aguilera (DePaul University Chicago), Dr. Franziska von Verschuer (Goethe University Frankfurt), Dr. Julia Böcker (Zurich University)
Moderated by Annika Troitzsch (Technical University Darmstadt)
Monday, 15 Dec 2025, 6.15 – 7.45 p.m. │ Goethe University, Campus Westend, PEG 1.G 192
Climate change and other contemporary environmental challenges are shaking the foundations and certainties of previous ways and forms of life all around the globe. As an increasing number of studies show, these developments not only raise technical and political questions but also evoke a host of affective responses. One emerging phenomenon that this panel discussion focuses on is what scholars are now calling environmental or ecological grief. The conversation brings together three scholars whose empirical research explores different forms, sites, and practices of grief and mourning beyond the human. Through the anticipatory grief of foresters over dying forests, the grief and resistant mourning of Black or Indigenous communities facing the destruction of their homes and livelihoods, and artistic practices of mourning biocultural diversity loss, the panel explores what it means to feel, practice, and live with—as well as research and think with—ecological grief and mourning.

Complementary event on Tuesday, 16 Dec 2025, 10.00 – 11.30 a.m.:
Guided tour of the exhibition „Solastalgia: Walks through changing landscapes“ at Goethe University’s Museum Giersch (English)
To join the exhibition, please register via email to: verschuer(at)soz.uni-frankfurt.de