»The Exhausted of the Earth. Politics in a Burning World.« Ajay Singh Chaudhary in conversation with Stefanie Hürtgen

Climate change is not only about the exhaustion of the planet, it’s about the exhaustion of so many of us, our lives, our worlds, even our minds. So, what is to be done? To answer this question, Ajay Singh Chaudhary brings together both the science and the politics of climate change. He shows how a new politics particular to the climate catastrophe demands a bitter struggle between those attached to the power, wealth, and security of “business-as-usual” and all of us, those exhausted, in every sense of the word, by the status quo. With Stefanie Hürtgen we will discuss these extractive circuits, as Ajay calls them: The permanent increase and capitalist appropriation of both, ecological and social energy. We will critically elaborate on labor and what is widely known in our times as “the” economy. Is the political subjectivity of exhaustion that Ajay outlines a starting point for the necessary fundamental changes?

Ajay Singh Chaudhary is the executive director of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, New York, and a core faculty member specializing in social and political theory.

Stefanie Hürtgen is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Geography at the University of Salzburg and Permanent Fellow of the Institute of Social Research.

The event is held in English.

It will be possible to attend the event in person or via Zoom.

We kindly ask you to register via mail to t.barth@em.uni-frankfurt.de.