The Social and Political Power of Environmental Images in Kyrgyzstan

May 24, 2019

On Wednesday, May 29, CASI Research Seminar on the topic of The Social and Political Power of Environmental Images in Kyrgyzstan by Amanda E. Wooden,  the David, and Patricia Ekedahl Professor, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, will take place at AUCA.

SPEAKER: Amanda E. Wooden, the David and Patricia Ekedahl Professor

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Bucknell University in Pennsylvania

Date: May 29, 2019

Time: 12:00

(This is a brown-bag event; attendees are welcome to bring their lunches)

Room: 205, AUCA

Abstract: Photography and videos are central to our online lives. Images also play a key role as political instruments, shaping public opinion, functioning as indicators of dynamic culture, and serving as tools for citizen political engagement. For environmental issues, images have shaped our understanding of ecosystem damage, fragility and resilience—while also generating awe and inspiration—long before cell phones and online social media became ubiquitous.

In this talk, Dr. Wooden will discuss her ongoing research on visual culture and the environment in Kyrgyzstan. She will explore some of the ways images played a role in Kyrgyzstan’s environmental politics in recent years, in particular regarding mining and glaciers. Dr. Wooden will briefly discuss her previous work on mining, in which she identified the particular role of images in shaping public opinion and as political instruments used by activists, corporations, and government officials. She will then outline her current research project on the environment and visual culture, discussing environmental art as well as representations of Nature in everyday life. Her current research project concerns the ways people make meaning of ecosystems as they tangibly and visibly change. This research is also an exploration of shifting national anxieties and identities in response to significant environmental processes such as climate change and biodiversity loss. In her research, Dr. Wooden utilizes the methodology of “photo voice” to flip the interviewing process. Dr. Wooden will explain the value of participatory photographic research methods, various competing narratives about Nature and industry in Kyrgyzstan, and the role of images in raising awareness and generating different ways of discursively imagining Kyrgyzstan’s future.

BIO: Amanda E. Wooden is the David and Patricia Ekedahl Professor and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, US. Her research sits at the intersection of critical political science, political economy, political ecology, critical geography, and Central Eurasian area studies. Dr. Wooden received a PhD in International Relations and Public Policy from Claremont Graduate University, MA in International Studies from Claremont, and a BA in Russian and Political Science from Syracuse University. Dr. Wooden researchesenvironmental policy and water politics, protests, extractive industries, climate change, environmentalism, and nationalism, primarily in Kyrgyzstan and the United States. She first lived in Kyrgyzstan in 2001, as a visiting lecturer in the ICP department of AUCA (then AUK). Dr. Wooden returned to Kyrgyzstan to live in Osh (2006-07) and Bishkek (2008-09), and for the last decade has regularly conducted research in Kyrgyzstan during the summer. In 2017-18, Dr. Wooden served as president of the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS). She is a 2018-20 Fulbright Global Scholar, conducting research in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.

To attend, please register here.     

Coffee will be provided during the lecture

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