Stockholm university

Research project Freethinking, Hesitation, Weirdness: Reconsidering Anthropocene through History, Literature and Art

This project offers a historical perspective from the 16th century until today on how literature and art explore questions around the Anthropocene, ecologies, climate change, and sustainability.

The main question within the research project Freethinking, Hesitation, Weirdness: Reconsidering the Anthropocene through History, Literature, and Art, is how artistic works and experiences might transform our understanding of these issues in ways that can help us overcome a widespread sense of alienation and intangibility.

The project consists of three subprojects: “A post-human humanism: Early modern freethinking and its legacy (led by Carin Franzén), “(Un)sustainable subjects: On passivity and waiting in the novel around the turn of the 20th century” (led by Sven Anders Johansson), and “Weird wor(l)ds: Literature and general ecology (led by Jesper Olsson).

Project members

Project managers

Carin Franzén

Professor

Department of Culture and Aesthetics
Carin Franzén

Sven Anders Johansson

Professor in Literature

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Mid Sweden University

Jesper Olsson

Professor in Literature

Department of Culture and Society at Linköping University