The Durham Workshop will take place May 15–16, 2025.
As we progress from our initial discussion centered on the evolving notion of “commons,” expanding beyond the tragedy narrative to incorporate perspectives that view shared resources as a dynamic nexus for thinking, acting, and collaborating, this workshop will include opportunities to consider innovative pedagogical and theoretical approaches supporting multidisciplinary study of environmental questions and challenges.
The underlying theme of this year’s workshop is pedagogy—defining the term in the broader sense of how we might teach, learn, and collaborate, in and beyond classrooms and communities, while highlighting the substantive ways Asia contributes to addressing environmental futures globally. Through this lens, we aim to explore how Asia’s historical and contemporary environmental issues can be incorporated into classrooms and communities to foster a dynamic understanding of their global significance.
We also hope to foster mutual knowledge among scholars of Asia about the interconnectedness of research areas through this pedagogical conversation. The panelists and discussants will be drawn from multiple institutions across the U.S. and Asia.
By engaging with emerging and established scholars in advancing cutting-edge research, exploring innovative methods and theories, and addressing issues of environmental and social justice, EFAN will continue growing as a platform for dialogue and collaboration that bridges academic inquiry with the concerns of local communities and environmental practitioners.
In particular, our goal is to examine the critical role Asia plays in shaping global environmental futures, highlighting how local experiences, knowledge systems, and scholarly praxis can contribute to broader discussions and solutions for planetary sustainability.
Invited speakers will focus their panel presentations on the substantive ways Asia contributes to addressing environmental futures globally, based on unpublished research or work in progress, drawing on their disciplinary toolkits developed from their expertise in the fields of geography, literature, history, anthropology, political science, and environmental studies.
