Workshop at Freie Universität Berlin, June 11-13, 2026

This international interdisciplinary workshop invites scholars from law, geography, cultural studies, philosophy and political science that share an interest in environmental studies and in pushing the agenda of ecocide accountability. Since the path towards accountability of ecocide is not only being forged in the legal, the political and the scientific spheres but notably from artists and activists our workshop includes roundtables with artists and NGO members. The workshop is structured in a mixed roundtable format and includes a keynote, an art workshop and a field trip to a lignite mine in Welzow. This approach allows for a close and inclusive dialogue between theoretical and empirical, academic and public, abstract and applied, scholarly and artistic discourses.

Conveners: Alexander Arroyo (U Chicago), Darya Tsymbalyuk (U Chicago), Susanne Strätling (FU Berlin)

With support from the Department of Cultural Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, the Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and UChicago Global at the University of Chicago, and the Berlin University Alliance. 

Program

Thursday, June 11 

Venue: Freie Universität Berlin, Institute for East European Studies, Garystraße 55, 14195 Berlin 

11:00   Art Workshop “I Dream of Seeing the Steppe Again” 

Lead by Darya Tsymbalyuk 

13:30   Lunch Break 

15:00  Zine Presentation “Land Testifies”  

With Isimenme Irene, Lekha Masoudi, Daniela Rivera Solano, Annie Yang (Chicago)

16:00  Key note"Sensing Ecocide"

Nabil Ahmed (Trondheim)

19:00   Conference Dinner

Friday, June 12

Venue: Freie Universität Berlin, Conference Center, Room L 116, Otto-von-Simson-Straße 26, 14195 Berlin

9:30     Roundtable “Infrastructures: Agents of Word-unmaking”

With Asia Bazdyrieva (Vienna), Tamta Khalvashi (Tbilisi), Svitlana Matviyenko (Vancouver)

Moderated by Susanne Strätling

11:00   Coffee Break

11:30   Roundtable “War and Occupation: Witnessing Environmental Destruction”

With Karolina Grzywnowicz (Warsaw), David Henig (Utrecht), Anna Kuzemko (Kyiv)

Moderated by  Darya Tsymbalyuk

13:00   Lunch 

14:30   Roundtable "Ecocide as Evidentiary Technique"

With Michael Watts (Stockholm), Nandor Knust (Tromsø), Constanza Mendoza (Berlin)

Moderated by Alexander Arroyo

16:00   Coffee Break

16:30   Closing remarks (Nabil Ahmed) and open discussion

Saturday, June 13

Field trip to Welzow opencast lignite mine

Only for workshop participants.

For more info see here.