About

Climate Justice and Problems of Scale is a Global Humanities Institute (GHI) supported by the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. CHCI is working to advance multiple forms of international, collaborative research designed to foster new knowledge and new networks; its members include humanities centers at colleges and universities, independent scholarly societies, research libraries, and other institutes of advanced study. CHCI launched the first Global Humanities Institute in 2017.

This CHCI / Mellon Global Humanities Institute is a partnership involving six university-based centers and institutes:

• Humanities Institute (University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A.)
• Alwaleed Center for American Studies and Research, (American University of Beirut, Lebanon)
• Institute for Humanities Research (Arizona State University, U.S.A.)
• Humanities Center (Carnegie Mellon University, U.S.A.)
• Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
• Sydney Environmental Institute (University of Sydney, Australia)

The overarching goal of this Global Humanities Institute is to build on the interdisciplinary scalar turn to generate more nuanced and holistic understandings of the relationship between the effects of climate change and the intensification of injustices in the social, cultural, and political spheres. Our inquiry will be organized according to three strands: Conceptualizing Scale for a Changing Climate, Climate In/Justice on the Ground, and Futures of Climate Justice. Early career scholars whose research fit into one or more of the themes are invited to submit an application.

An interdisciplinary group of participants will develop and share research and creative work concerning how matters of scale shape understandings and experiences of climate change; help us identify the sources and attributes of climate injustice; and impede and facilitate collective action to mitigate climate change, more evenly distribute impacts of climate disruption, and work towards climate justice.

Pretoria Institute, 2022

From July 29 through August 7, 2022, investigative teams from the six partnering universities gathered in Pretoria, South Africa, for an eight-day Institute addressing Climate Justice and Problems of Scale. Sessions addressed the theme of the Institute using a broad range of perspectives and methodologies. The Institute consisted of plenary lectures, workshops, site visits, and artistic events. Nineteen early career scholars receive mentoring from senior scholars. The working language for the Institute was primarily English.

We invite you to explore the GHI's own website, hosted by the University of Texas at Austin, and also on Twitter and LinkedIn at #ClimateGHI.