Balancing Acts and Ways of Knowing: Environmental Anthropology as a Collaborative Companion in the AnthropoceneNane Pelke publishes in Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

23 June 2025, by CSS

Photo: UHH/Mentz

CSS member Nane Pelke has just published a research article in Journal for Contemporary Ethnography.

Abstract: 
The Anthropocene calls for collaboration between heterogeneous actors and knowledge about indisputable planetary boundaries and environmental cha(lle)nges. One dimension of such collaboration is interdisciplinary efforts, where anthropology’s potential contributions often fall under the radar. Based on a field study and ten semi-structured interviews, this article reassesses environmental anthropology as a collaborative companion in knowledge-making. Introducing the notion of balancing acts, it reveals how environmental anthropological fieldwork navigates elements of expansion triggered by the Anthropocene in knowledge-making processes, and how this fieldwork balances diverse knowledge forms, modes of inquiry, and venues of actions (fields), thereby contributing to knowledge-making of the complexities of this “epoch.”

Read whole paper here.