Agenda

KEYNOTE LECTURE  | “Planetary Reason and the Ordinary Problems of Earthly Excess”

17 June 2026
4:00 – 6:00 PM CET

Aula Mario Baratto, Ca’ Foscari & Online

Nigel Clark
Lancaster University,Visiting Scholar at NICHE

How should we understand geopraxis in times of planetary change? This talk argues that materialist thought must attend not only to human–nonhuman entanglements but also to the radical asymmetry between human practical activity and the unbounded geophysical and cosmic contexts in which it unfolds.
Against dominant Anthropocene framings centred on Earth system coupling, the talk foregrounds the “ordinary” problems that arise whenever human collectives act within a dynamic planet that exceeds prediction and control. The plural rationalities through which people respond to the shifting conditions of the geocosmos give shape to what we might call “planetary reason.”
From a geoanthropological perspective, the talk reframes planetary reason in relation to the problem of earthly excess by asking: What forms of reasoning emerge from encounters with forces that exceed human control? How do different practices negotiate uncertainty and exposure to planetary instability? And what kinds of collective action become possible when we take seriously the limits and asymmetries that define the place of human agency on a perpetually shifting Earth?

This keynote is part of a series of events centered on the experimental field of geoanthropology—the study of the relationship between the Earth and its inhabitants—with Nigel Clark, hosted by NICHE.

The event will also be available online:
https://unive.zoom.us/meeting/register/M1Ik72nrRBmbJjFrLax8eA