The Bloomington Symposia: Ecologies

The focus of the Spring 2025 Bloomington Symposium is “Ecologies,” broadly construed. The study of ecologies invites us to bring together a diverse array of disciplines, fields, and perspectives: biological, environmental, climate, and earth sciences, art and design, geography, history, anthropology, religious studies, rhetoric, literature, music and performance, law and political science, as well as public health, policy studies, international affairs, media studies, and journalism.

A word once primarily associated with the biological sciences, “ecology” comes from the Greek, “oikos,” meaning family, home, or dwelling, and now is used in many fields to frame considerations of ecosystemic relationships–including interspecies entanglements, networks, mutualism, reciprocity, and antagonism. The symposium is inspired by work on community and ecosystem ecology, environmental resilience, emplacement and environment, ideas of dwelling and home, aesthetic engagements with ecologies, the often precarious ecosystems in which we and other beings dwell, sustainable business and agriculture. The symposium considers how human cultural institutions (including ideas, values and beliefs) and cultural productions shape and are shaped by the more-than-human world: How do we understand or represent the changing ecosystems that we both inhabit and are? What might the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities be able to teach each other about sustainable ecologies in the anthropocene? In posing such questions, the symposium aims to expand theoretical frameworks beyond siloed disciplines and take a capacious understanding of what “ecology” means.

This workshop group is co-convened by:
Shannon Gayk, Associate Professor, English & Environmental Humanities
Jennifer Lau, Professor, Biology

Three external fellows are joining us this year during the April symposium.
Joni Adamson, Professor, English, Arizona State University
Anna Tsing, Professor, Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz
Marjorie Weber, Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan

TBS: Ecologies Schedule

April 3–5, 2025

There are a limited number of in-person spots available. If interested in attending in person, please fill out the form linked below and indicate which date(s) you would like to attend. All sessions will also be available for online viewing via Zoom.

Sign up to attend the symposium in person

Register for Day 1 webinar session here

Register for Day 2 morning webinar session here

Register for Day 2 afternoon webinar session here

Register for Day 3 morning webinar session here

Register for Day 3 afternoon webinar session here

TBS: Ecologies Cohort

John Arthos, Professor, English
Shahzeen Attari, Professor, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Andy Bruno, Professor, History
Brian Forist, Senior Lecturer, Health & Wellness Design
Lessie Jo Frazier, Professor, Gender Studies and American Studies
Sara Gregg, Associate Professor, History
Richard Henne-Ochoa, Director, Institute for Indigenous Knowledge and Center for the Documentation and Revitalization of Indigenous Languages
Edward Herrmann, Senior Research Scientist, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Ryan Kennedy, Assistant Professor, Anthropology; Director, Zooarchaeology Lab
Ellen Ketterson, Professor, Biology
Eunice (Sang Eun) Lee, Assistant Professor, American Studies and Asian American Studies Program
Sarah Osterhoudt, Associate Professor, Anthropology
Morten Oxenboell, East Asian Languages and Cultures
David Stringer, Associate Professor, Second Language Studies