Food, Consumption and Climate Change

The Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Texas invites submissions for its 2022 fall graduate conference.

The conference theme is “Food, Consumption and Climate Change.” The inability of governments and private citizens alike to address the climate crisis demonstrates a need for new approaches to and conceptions of the complexity that is climate chaos. The old approaches are clearly not working; the stale debate between state and federal sovereignty captures the imagination of millions as the federal government of the United States loses regulatory power over emissions of private institutions. The language that informs the public of climate induced chaos continues to maintain a naïve optimism and irresponsibility. Hundreds of millions in the global north absolve themselves of any response-ability in their diets and the suffering that such decisions are predicated upon. This conference is asking for new ways of conceiving, imagining, theorizing, and implementing change to overcome the decomposing (putrefying?) debates of progressive neoliberal politics. This conference invites new and creative ways to conceive of and imagine food, consumption, and climate change at their intersections. As such, this conference is intended to be interdisciplinary, inviting numerous voices and disciplines to think on the complexities that these ongoing crises continue to announce themselves as.

The keynote speaker will be Nathalia Hernández Vidal. She holds a Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago and is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Philosophy and Religion Department at UNT.  Her work focuses on food sovereignty and climate change through the lens of environmental justice, feminist political ecology, and critical indigenous studies. Dr. Hernández Vidal is also an active member of the seed sovereignty movement in Latin America. 

The conference will also include a workshop by Samani Dr. Chaitanya Pragya, Visiting Professor at Florida International University, USA and Professor at Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, India. Her lecture and workshop is titled “Living Lightly on the Planet: Jain Philosophy and Practices for Reducing Accumulation, Moderating Consumption, and Letting Go of What Weighs Us Down.”

Possible submission topics include:

·         Food Studies

·         Climate Change

·         Environmental Justice

·         Animal Studies

·         Philosophy of Water

·         Decolonial Thought and Practice

·         Indigenous Thought and Practice

·         Consumption of commodities/pollution/media

·         Cultural Criticism

·         Environmental Ethics

·         Environmental Aesthetics

·         Technology

·         Ecofeminism

·         Ecotheology & Green Religion

Submissions of 500-word abstracts should be prepared for anonymous review. Accepted students will give a 20-minute presentation with a 10-minute Q&A. Submissions should be emailed to [email protected] with the following information by August 12th 2022:

·         Name

·         University affiliation

·         Current level of graduate studies

Accepted presenters will be notified by late-August. This conference will be held in-person and presenters are expected to present in-person. Any questions should be directed to [email protected].