Climate in Motion: Science, Empire and the Problem of Scale

A retrospective discussion of Deborah Coen's important book 'Climate in Motion: Science, Empire and the Problem of Scale' (Chicago University Press, 2018).

Followed by commentary by Eva Horn (University of Vienna) and Richard Staley (University of Cambridge).

In this session of our seminar we will turn to climate science, its global and historical itineraries and its imperial origins. How does climate science's propensity to jump scale and link widely dispersed data help explain its contested reception as a form of knowledge? What is the link between the history of climate science and the concept of the Anthropocene? How can history help us to parse the assumptions underlying notions of human "vulnerability" and "security" in the face of climate change today?

Material from the book will be circulated for advance reading. Please check your confirmation email after registration.