A term was born - Eventhropocene

These occasions do not happen often in the context of academic teaching. Too many times scholars are asked to teach subjects that fit the curricula rather than their research interests and expertise. Practical and sensable but at the same time there are these rare moments when the teaching and research work in great synergy.

When planning a module on events and the anthropocene, I did not expect much. I was curious what might happen but definitely did not expect great resonance or even inspiration. However, my aspirations were soon turned upside down. Within the very first session to be specific!

Having been teaching in online modalities for way to long due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I enjoy to bring elements of my online teaching in an offline modality. At the end of the first official session, I therefore encouraged the students participating in a 4-hour block seminar to capture their thoughts in a hashtag. The usual description highlights the catchy, funny, creative nature of this short expression - all about searchability.

While many great options were contributed, the one on the picture above particularly caught my attention with a firm grip - not letting go for the rest of the semester. #eventhropozän (German for #eventhropocene) as a catchy phrase, a word play and a thought experiment was born.

My gratitude goes to Nadine Schellnegger for the creation of particular hashtag and the fellow students for not only this particular framing, but many more interesting, exciting and thought-provoking inputs - some of which are captured in this blog.