RIKK, the Institute for Gender, Equality and Difference, and GRÓ-GEST, is hosting a lecture series on gender and climate change in the spring of 2020 at the National Museum of Iceland (see the full program here).
I will be giving the first lecture, on January 23 12.00, with the title: Climate Crisis and „the Logic of Masculinist Protection“ (event at RIKK, and on Facebook)
Update: See the video of the talk here:
Abstract: We are already seeing the disastrous consequences of the climate crisis around the planet, and as global carbon emissions keep rising the future is uncertain. For some scholars, the collapse of human civilisation and even human extinction are real possibilities. Social collapse is also a prevalent theme in in contemporary culture and popular entertainment. This lecture argues that this fear might be misguided. The current climate crisis is terrifying, but what we should fear is not the collapse of social order as we know it but its continuation. Drawing upon Iris Marion Young’s “logic of masculinist protection” I argue that the fear of social collapse tends to make us seek protection by giving more power to those in charge of the political system, while we lose trust in each other. Thus, the climate crisis is more likely to lead to the intensification of current power structures, globally and within nations. As the already vulnerable suffer from climate catastrophes, those who are protected and already powerful will increase their domination, especially if they do so under the guise of the “benevolent patriarch” that promises to protect us from disorder. This logic undermines the elements that are most needed to survive disasters: care, social trust, and mutual aid. The talk analyses the social and political reactions in recent real disasters as examples of what we can expect more of, and learn from, as the climate crisis intensifies.