Am 12. März 2025 werden Cornelius Heimstädt (HU Berlin) und Tanja Schneider (Technical University of Denmark) ein Panel auf der STS Hub 2025: Diffracting the Critical Konferenz in Berlin veranstalten. Das Panel findet in Raum 1.505 statt und bringt Wissenschaftler*innen zusammen, um die vielfältigen Weisen zu erkunden, in denen Nachhaltigkeit im technowissenschaftlichen Kapitalismus bewertet wird.
Abstract des Panels:
Chair(s): Cornelius Heimstädt (HU Berlin), Tanja Schneider (Technical University of Denmark)
The concept of sustainability is ubiquitous in contemporary economies, yet actors invoke it to describe a wide range of practices and processes—often with divergent, sometimes contradictory, implications. An electric car manufacturer may call his new factory sustainable, despite it being constructed in a water conservation area. A start-up helping polluting industries (e.g. petrochemical, meat, aviation) offset carbon emissions may do so in the name of sustainability. Meanwhile, an organic farmer may cite sustainability to explain the elevated price of her carrots. Inspired by, but not identical to, debates on the valuation of nature (e.g. Fourcade, 2011; Fairbairn, 2021; Asdal & Huse, 2023), this panel invites researchers to investigate the many ways in which sustainability is valued in technoscientific capitalism. The valuation practices (see Helgesson & Muniesa, 2013) we encourage exploring are diverse and may encompass, but are not limited to, re-defining, operationalizing, quantifying, pricing, and contesting sustainability. By analyzing these practices across different industries, our panel aims for a transversal diffraction of the “economized” (Çalışkan & Callon, 2009) sustainability discourses shaping the present—perhaps starting with, but going beyond, the critical reflex of “debunking” (Latour, 2004) them as mere instances of ‘greenwashing’ or similar.