Fostering Collective Liberation and Socioenvironmental Justice: Co-Creation Across Contexts, ASLE Panel

In a recent piece on public humanities, Meredith Lyn Jeffers argues that “the time has come to reimagine the humanities as an inherently public enterprise that provides an opportunity for collaborating with and understanding the experiences of others. The time has come to practice the humanities, and not just to study them” (551). Heeding this call, this roundtable brings together scholars engaged with public environmental humanities work in the DC metro area and beyond. Panelists will briefly describe their public humanities projects, followed by a robust discussion on the role that public humanities can play in contributing to greater collectivity for responding to environmental injustices. What is the “work” of public humanities in the context of environmental racism, climate chaos, and other environmental injustices? Who does it and for whom? What forms does this work take, and what methodologies are used? The panel will also consider Fath Davis Ruffins’ (2022) elements for successful public humanities practices, including shared authority, active collaboration, mutual learning, interdisciplinary approaches, and authentic service to the public, as well as Jeffers’ call for including undergraduates as necessary “agents of change.” To that end, this roundtable includes scholars working on a range of public humanities projects.