Project: “Re-Staging Climate Assemblies” (British Academy Knowledge Frontiers KF25\100465)
Hosted by: Junior Professor Dr. Riccarda Flemmer and PhD candidate Verena Gresz
 
The event “Holding the Ruins, Shaping the Future” brought together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, artists, and practitioners to explore the intersections of climate politics, participatory governance, and arts-based methods. Its central aim was to foster critical reflection on knowledge production and to experiment with innovative, transdisciplinary approaches to climate governance as part of the collaborative research project “Re-Staging Climate Assemblies” (British Academy Knowledge Frontiers) between the University of Tübingen and University of Sheffield.

Day 2: June 10, 2026
On Wednesday morning, Verena Gresz presented her PhD project, “Arts-Based Engagement with Global Climate Governance - Loss and Damage in UNFCCC Climate Negotiations and How to Know About It” in which she explores how arts-based approaches can help to know, decide and act upon harm in climate politics. Mexican journalist Adriana Navarro Ramírez currently residing in Tübingen presented the current state of her research on “A Land in Resistance: The Latin American Mirror and Journalism Facing Power.” which investigates environmental crimes in Mexico and the precarious working conditions of environmental journalists.
In the afternoon, the research teams from the University of Tübingen and the University of Sheffield of the project “Re-Staging Climate Assemblies” (British Academy Knowledge Frontiers) with the creative partners from the Performing Arts Collective Tübingen PACT and Theater of the Oppressed expert Caren Niemann exchanged perspectives on the research workshops held separately in both cities. The project engages young adults with diaspora backgrounds to re-imagine the format of climate assemblies with embodiment- and theater-based methods. The day concluded with a public performance in the LTT, which opened with a brief academic introduction by the research teams, outlining the project and the concept of climate citizen assemblies. Then, Jakob Jautz and Caren Niemann from the Tübingen creative team invited the audience and the academic teams to take the stage and experiment with theater-based methods firsthand. On the stage, we played the “Climate Zombie” game, followed by embodied sociograms and figure theater. These activities recreated key elements of the research workshops and ended with watching the project film together. In the subsequent discussion the project teams and the audience shared feedback on their experiences and reflected on the potential of these creative, practice-oriented approaches for the participation in and redesign of climate assemblies.

Day 3: June 11, 2026
On Thursday, the program centered on methodological reflection and practical experimentation with scenario-making. The teams from Sheffield and Tübingen presented and discussed their ongoing conceptual, methodological and policy-oriented work emerging from the project “Re-Staging Climate Assemblies”. Based on these insights, all participants of the summer school were invited to take part in a scenario-building workshop led by the Sheffield team, using storytelling techniques to collaboratively construct narratives around climate futures. This exercise illustrated how diverse perspectives contribute to layered processes of co-creation and highlighted the importance of inclusive participation.
In the afternoon Global Encounters fellow Professor Amaya Querejazu of the Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia presented her project on “Making Peace with Nature”. In her ongoing research, Amaya critically examines dominant narratives of human-to-nature relations and searches for decolonial and pluriversal spaces of encounter in international arenas.
The event concluded with a round of reflection, inviting participants to share key insights and open questions across the three themes. Discussions on Loss and Damage emphasised that responses to climate harm should extend beyond documenting loss to include healing, mourning, coping, and collective sense-making, while remaining attentive to the difficult questions of addressing harm and making its consequences tangible. Reflections on Climate Assemblies highlighted democracy as a lived practice of co-creation rather than mere representation, stressing the need for creative and participatory methods, while also grappling with challenges such as dissent, exclusion, and the relationship between academia and communities. Conversations on plural ways of knowing underscored the importance of experience, emotion, artistic interventions, and process-oriented thinking in generating knowledge, prompting broader questions about who is recognised as an expert, what counts as legitimate knowledge, and how diverse forms of knowing can be meaningfully included without appropriation. The discussion concluded with several shared questions for future work, including how to foster collective sense-making, strike the right balance between urgency and hope, design inclusive invitations to participation, manage expectations, and engage Indigenous perspectives respectfully and collaboratively. 

​Day 4: June 12, 2026
The final day concluded with a joint meeting involving the UK creative team, providing a space for forward-looking exchange on the next steps within the “Re-Staging Climate Assemblies” project. The discussion focused on strengthening collaboration between researchers and practitioners, refining methodological approaches, and developing shared perspectives for the project’s future trajectory.

Loss and Damage (L&D) and Climate Assemblies have emerged as two closely connected developments in contemporary climate politics. While Loss and Damage addresses the irreversible impacts of climate change and the question of how environmental harm becomes politically recognized, Climate Assemblies and related participatory formats open spaces in which citizens collectively deliberate about climate futures and possible pathways for action. 

The summer school “Holding the Ruins, Shaping the Future”,  8-12 June 2026 at University of Tübingen, Germany, brings together scholars, artists and practitioners working at the intersections of climate politics, arts-based research and participatory governance to explore plural ways of knowing environmental harm and their implications for decision-making and action.

We welcome contributions from PhD candidates and early-career researchers engaging with questions from disciplinary, transdisciplinary or practice-based perspectives. Contributions may include theoretical reflections, empirical research, methodological explorations, arts-based approaches, or work-in-progress presentations. We particularly encourage submissions that critically engage with the relationships between knowledge production, participation and climate governance.
 
For the application, please submit a 150-word abstract by 1st May 2026 to verena.gresz[at]uni-tuebingen.de.

You can find more information here:

This workshop was organised by Riccarda Flemmer in collaboration with Matthias Kramm, Chair Ethics, Philosophy and History of the Life Sciences and Léonie de Jonge, IREX (Institute for Research on Far Right Extremism) at the CoF (College of Fellows).

On 12 and 13 February 2026, scholars and practitioners gathered for the transdisciplinary workshop “The Dark Sides of Rights of Nature”. The event provided a space to critically examine how environmentalism and Rights of Nature (RoN) intersect with exclusionary politics, colonial legal systems, and academic practices. Across six sessions, the participants explored RoN and the connections between far-right environmental engagement, colonial legal frameworks, and embodied ecological practices. The workshop highlighted both the transformative potential of RoN and the risks of ideological appropriation, pointing out the importance of critical and contextual engagement.
The workshop concluded that the complexity of RoN and environmental politics addressing two global trends, ecological crisis and democratic backsliding. The discussions emphasized the importance of relational, decolonial, and transdisciplinary approaches to environmental governance. Overall, the workshop successfully fostered critical dialogue and opened new directions for research on the political dimensions of RoN.
 
Session 1: Critical Environmental Education and Far-Right Environmental Narratives
The workshop opened with an interactive session led by Yannick Passeick (FARN – German Competence Centre for Radicalization Prevention and Engagement in Nature Conservation), who introduced FARN’s work in preventing far-right influence in environmental spaces. Through interactive exercises analysing statements and far-right quotes, Yannick demonstrated how far-right actors strategically reframe widely shared ecological concerns within ethnopluralist and exclusionary ideologies, revealing how language around nature, belonging, and anti-capitalism can blur ideological boundaries between progressive environmentalism and ecofascism. Yannick emphasized the importance of critical awareness of language and narrative framing to prevent the normalization and spread of ecofascist ideas.
 
Session 2: Rights of Nature (RoN), Human Rights, and Far-Right Ecologism
Session 2 featured a collective discussion among participants including Riccarda Flemmer, Leonie de Jonge, Harriët Bergman, Martin Hultman, Lise Benoist, Elisabeth Oertel, Matthias Kramm, and Yannick Passeick. The discussion explored how far-right environmentalism is shaped by concepts such as nativism, belonging, and land, and how these concepts vary across regions. Participants noted that while European far-right movements often tie ecology to ethnic identity and territory, such narratives differ in postcolonial contexts. The session also addressed tensions within environmental movements, including concerns about ideological appropriation and the need for clearer conceptual distinctions.
 
Session 3: Ecofascism, Far-Right Environmental Activism, and Legal Critique
Session 3 included presentations by Harriët Bergman, Lise Benoist, Manuela Beyer, and Niels Weidtmann, examining philosophical, empirical, and legal dimensions of far-right environmentalism. Harriët explored how narratives of territorial belonging and self-defence can overlap across progressive and exclusionary movements, highlighting the need for conceptual clarity. Lise presented ethnographic research on far-right activists in France, showing how environmentalism is reframed through localism, cultural identity, and reactionary interpretations of ecology. Manuela analysed the Anastasia movement, demonstrating how emotional narratives of love, purity, and belonging help legitimize exclusionary ecological ideologies. Niels provided a legal critique, arguing that Western RoN frameworks often reproduce colonial assumptions and fail to reflect relational understandings of nature.
 
Session 4: Coloniality, Legal Limits, and Academic Critique of Rights of Nature
Session 4 featured presentations by Laura Santacoloma, Riccarda Flemmer, Martin Hultman, and Usha Natarajan, focusing on legal, political, and epistemological critiques of RoN. Laura examined Colombian RoN cases, highlighting implementation gaps and tensions between legal recognition and local realities. Riccarda analysed risks such as symbolic implementation, depoliticization, and exclusionary environmental narratives in European contexts. Martin critiqued academic engagement with RoN, warning against short-term research trends and emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary and transformative scholarship. Usha examined methodological whiteness in environmental law, arguing that RoN frameworks can reproduce colonial hierarchies if not critically reconsidered.
 
Session 5: Hiking and Far-Right Identity Formation
Session 5 featured a presentation by journalist Timo Büchner, who examined hiking as a key practice in far-right movements in Germany. He showed how hiking functions as a tool for recruitment, identity formation, and community building, drawing on historical traditions and nationalist symbolism. These activities combine physical endurance, emotional bonding, and political messaging, reinforcing collective belonging. Timo emphasized that hiking operates both as a social practice and as a political strategy for strengthening far-right networks.
 
Session 6: Back to nature? Far-right lifestyle and the everyday in Germany and Europe
The final session included presentations by Micha Bröckling, Elisabeth Oertel, and Leonie Singer, focusing on embodied ecological practices and political narratives. Micha analysed hiking and fitness as embodied forms of far-right politics, linking masculinity, nature, and identity. Elisabeth examined opposition to wind energy in Thuringia, showing how far right and conservative actors framed turbines as threats to national landscapes. Leonie explored far-right agricultural narratives, demonstrating how farming and rural identity are used to reinforce nationalist ideas of belonging and sovereignty.
 
Guided Walk on National socialism in Tübingen
The workshop concluded with an optional guided walk, offered by the Geschichtswerkstatt Tübingen. It traced the victims and perpetrators of National Socialism through Tübingen, highlighting the role of the university, perpetrator networks, and continuities even until today.

​On the 12th and 13th of February, Riccarda Flemmer (Institute of Political Science, UT), Matthias Kramm (Ethics, Philosophy and History of the Life Sciences, UT) and Léonie de Jonge (Institute for Research on Far Right Extremism (IRex), UT), in cooperation with the College of Fellows, UT, invite international researchers to the University of Tübingen to discuss the Dark Sides of Rights of Nature. This event is part of the Global Encounters Workshop Series on "Bridging Knowledges: Thinking with / Learning from the Global South".

This international workshop explores the often-overlooked “dark sides” of Rights of Nature (RoN), bringing critical perspectives from the Global South and North into dialogue. While RoN are frequently celebrated for their transformative potential, the workshop foregrounds growing skepticism about their political, legal, and ideological implications. Key sessions address Nature, Rights, and the Far-Right in Germany and Rights of Nature, Human Rights, and Far-Right Ecologism, examining how legal innovations around nature intersect with nationalist, exclusionary, and authoritarian discourses. Contributions further explore the coloniality of (inter)national law, the racialization of nature, Indigenous critiques, and the appropriation of RoN by states, corporations, and political movements. Under the guiding question Back to nature?, the program also investigates far-right lifestyles, environmental activism, land-use conflicts, and everyday practices in Germany and Europe. Case studies from Latin America and Europe address ecofascism, Indigenous (land) rights , tensions between human and non-human rights, and the academic hype surrounding RoN. The workshop brings together scholars, practitioners, activists, and journalists to critically reassess Rights of Nature within contemporary power relations.

Niko Paech, economist, sustainability researcher and professor of plural economics at the University of Siegen, is the most consistent among the many thinkers on sustainability in questioning the concept of growth. With his alternative concept of the post-growth economy, he calls for the restructuring of value creation processes and the strengthening of local self-sufficiency patterns, the development of liberating sufficiency and the dynamisation of social networks. In a refreshingly relaxed and humorous way, he describes what a modern lifestyle that enables a ‘good life’ for all could look like.

Grupo Sal Duo open up a sensual resonance space with their music for deepening the content and allow the audience to directly experience an important aspect of the good life: the creative connection between art, culture and affirmative attitude towards life!

Sudhaus Peripherie
Hechinger Str. 203, 72072 Tübingen
Thursday, 4 December 2025
Start: 8 p.m.
Admission: 7:30 p.m.
Advance tickets: €15/ €10 reduced
Box office: €18/ €12 reduced

​In Cooperation with
JP Dr Riccarda Flemmer, the Chair of Theory and History of the Life Sciences, Professor Karin Polit of the Department of Ethnology at the Asia-Orient Institute
as well as Klimaliste Tübingen, FairStrickt, Teachers4Future, Parents4Future, Health4Future, Club Voltaire, Katholischer Fonds, xäls and Brot für die Welt

From April 23 to 30, 2025, the Cine Latino film festival brought powerful cinematic and political insights from Latin America to audiences in Tübingen, Stuttgart, Freiburg, and Reutlingen. This year’s program featured a special thematic focus titled “Indigenous Amazonia – Guardians of the Climate?”, which emphasized the voices, struggles, and worldviews of Indigenous peoples protecting the rainforest.

A key moment of the festival was the panel discussion held on Saturday, April 26 at Café Haag in Tübingen, where filmmakers and experts shared their experiences and perspectives on Indigenous worldviews and environmental justice. Participants included Eriberto Gualinga (Helena de Sarayaku), Stephanie Boyd and Miguel Aroz Cartagena (Karuara, la gente del río), and participatory filmmaker Maja Tillmann Salas (The Rights of Mother Earth). They discussed how Indigenous communities—who inhabit some of the most biodiverse areas of the Amazon—understand the forest and rivers not as resources, but as living beings with rights. The Kichwa community of Sarayaku in Ecuador, for instance, promotes the concept of Kawsak Sacha (Living Forest), demanding legal recognition of the forest as a subject of rights. Similarly, the Kukama people in Karuara view the river as a spiritual entity deserving protection. This tension is also visible in Kinra, directed by Marco Panatonic, where the protagonist navigates between urban alienation and Indigenous identity. These Indigenous cosmologies—such as the Andean concept of Buen Vivir (Sumaq Kawsay), where all beings are alive and interconnected—stand in stark contrast to Western legal systems that define nature as property, object, or resource. Photos from the event can be found here.

Eriberto Gualinga’s documentary Helena de Sarayaku (Ecuador, 2022) opened this thematic focus with a moving portrait of 17-year-old Helena, who spends her school holidays in her community in the Ecuadorian Amazon. There, she witnesses the spiritual vitality of the rainforest and the threats posed by oil companies and climate change. She gradually emerges as a young activist, voicing her community’s struggles on a global stage.

Complementing this narrative, Karuara, la gente del río (Peru/Canada, 2024), co-directed by Stephanie Boyd and Miguel Aroz Cartagena, immerses viewers in the mystical and political world of the Kukama people along the Marañón River in Peru. While water spirits—the Karuara—dwell beneath the surface, the Kukama resist extractive threats above it. The film blends everyday life, myth, and striking animations, earning awards at festivals in Lima and Toronto.
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In her article “Im Einklang mit dem Regenwald” (In Harmony with the Rainforest) published in the Schwäbisches Tagblatt on April 28, 2025, journalist Dorothee Hermann emphasizes how these films not only document the lived realities of Indigenous communities but also reflect resistance, cultural continuity, and hope. According to the filmmakers, these stories are both mirrors and calls to action—urging broader recognition of Indigenous knowledge systems and struggles.
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The Cine Latino 2025 festival demonstrated that climate justice and Indigenous rights are deeply interconnected. Protecting the Amazon means listening to and supporting those who have safeguarded it for generations.
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Credits: Article “Im Einklang mit dem Regenwald” by Dorothee Hermann, Schwäbisches Tagblatt, April 28, 2025.

On April 5, 2025, franz.K in Reutlingen came alive with the energy of Pluriversum 2025, an extraordinary multimedia event combining political dialogue, Latin American music, and powerful visual art. This unique evening invited the audience to experience how global struggles for justice—especially the fight for environmental and indigenous rights—can be felt through sound, image, and story.

Moderated by Ecuadorian politician and activist Alberto Acosta and journalist Sandra Weiss, the event featured Grupo Sal, whose vibrant Latin American rhythms gave voice to social movements across the Global South. Artist Johannes Keitel contributed dynamic video-mapping projections that transformed the stage into a visual landscape of resistance and solidarity.

A moving highlight was the live video call with Yuvelis Natalia Morales, a 22-year-old environmental activist from Colombia and member of Alianza Colombia Libre de Fracking. Yuvelis recounted her fight against fracking in Colombia—a struggle marked by courage in the face of threats and political persecution. She powerfully reminded the audience that fracking is a global crisis, responsible for environmental destruction, water contamination, and the displacement of indigenous and rural communities.

The event invited the audience to recognize the Rights of Nature not just as a legal innovation, but as a necessary step toward reimagining human-nature relations and building a more just and sustainable world.

Through sound, visuals, and dialogue, Pluriversum in Reutlingen showed what it means to resist extractivism and amplify voices from the frontlines of environmental defense.

We thank our partner Grupo Sal and all collaborators for making this event possible. The event was funded as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments.

Excited to announce the successful completion of the project The Transformative Potential of Rights of Nature? Struggling for Alternatives to Destructive Anthropocentric Development, funded by the RiSC program of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts, and as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments.

As the final event of the project, we hosted the Knowledge Lab: The Transformative Potential of Rights of Nature? Perspectives and Synergies in Arts, Activism, and Academia (University of Tübingen, 23–24 January 2025)

Bringing together artists, activists, and researchers from Latin America and Europe, the Knowledge Lab explored interdisciplinary and arts-based approaches to Rights of Nature (RoN) and reflected on the political, legal, and cultural dimensions of systemic change. Through dialogues, performances, and critical exchanges, participants examined the transformative promises and challenges of RoN across different fields of practice.

We are delighted to share that the final Workshop Report is now available! It captures the diversity of perspectives, discussions, and creative interventions that took place over the two-day event and highlights key insights into how RoN can contribute to reimagining human–nature relations and promoting more just and ecologically sustainable futures.

The report also marks the closing of the project and the beginning of further reflections on the transformative potential of Rights of Nature in global and local contexts.

Warm thanks to all participants for their crucial contributions to this inspiring and vibrant space for collective thinking and imagining.
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We invite you to explore the full report!

Junior-Professor for "Political Struggles in the Global South" is looking for a new student assistant from 1 June 2025 to support the project “Re-Staging Climate Assemblies” (April 2025-March 2027) in collaboration with Sheffield University, UK.

​​Re-Staging Climate Assemblies is an interdisciplinary project at the intersection of arts, humanities and social science perspectives on climate change and innovations in deliberative democracy. Through ‘re-stagings’ of citizen climate assemblies co-designed with youth diaspora communities in Sheffield, UK and Tübingen, Germany, it will collectively assemble a body of stories, tools and resources for more inclusive and just climate politics. The project will address engagement with underrepresented citizens within climate assemblies, acknowledging diverse ways of knowing and modes of deliberation. It will explore the potential of participatory arts-based approaches, notably scenario-making, for innovating within democratic processes and catalyzing transformative climate action.

We are looking for a student assistant with excellent organizational skills to support us in conducting literature research and building a contextual review, organizing and administering workshops, and communicating with the UK team. The interest in writing a BA or MA thesis on topics close to the project is encouraged.

Workload: 20 h/ month; Salary: 13,98 €/h (without degree), 14,87 €/h (with BA)

Tasks:

• Literature search and administration of literature
• Organization of events and workshops
• Administration and writing of blog/website

Requirements:

• B.A. or M.A. student, not necessarily in Political Science
• Self-organized, responsible and structured work skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent command of German and English

Please send your application with a brief 1-2 page CV and certificates by 30 April 2025 to: [email protected].
Interviews are planned for 7 and 8 May 2025.
Severely disabled applicants with equal qualifications will be given particular consideration.
​For any questions, do not hesitate to contact me via Email.

I look forward to receiving your application!