Planetarity
Phenomena in which planetary and anthropogenic forces intersect, from induced seismicity to anthropogenic space weather, and how societies can deal with forces beyond human control.
Research
My work develops the planetarities as a new research field that engages with planetary change, and investigates planetary politics in particular.
Societies do not live on but are part of a planet. As the planet is ever-changing, so too are the relations societies create with it. My contribution centers on three key areas: the planetary itself, the methods through which it becomes knowable, and planetary politics, from the concept of time to the future of democracy. I currently examine what politics might look like if the Earth itself could participate in it.
Research areas
Methods
How the planetary becomes knowable: where planetary data begin, how observational units are formed, and which methods the humanities and social sciences need to study planetary change.
Politics
How planetary temporalities, from the electoral cycle to geological and cosmic timescales, can be politically institutionalized, why some democracies deal better with planetary change than others, and how nonhuman earthlings can be included in democratic politics.
Projects
Since 2026
Handbook of Planetary Methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences
A reference work of more than 40 chapters on the methods with which the humanities and social sciences study planetary change. With Clemens Finkelstein · Oxford University Press, under contract.
2023 – 2024
Planet as Method
Seed funding to explore a new research field on planetary methods in the humanities and social sciences: a joint cluster of the Universities of Giessen, Marburg and Darmstadt, led by Giessen. With Sven Opitz · Research Campus of Central Hessen.
2021 – 2025
Planetary Scholars and Artists in Residence Program
Annual focal topics, fellowships for scholars and artists, collaborations with academic and non-academic partners, including a theatre and an art gallery, and the Planetary Futures competition. With Claus Leggewie · Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts.