CLIMATE AND EARTH
SYSTEM SCIENCES
Photo: UHH/Denstorf
6 December 2024
Photo: Janina Hanke
We are proud to announce the successful disputation of our SICSS member Inga Janina Sievert.
Her dissertation “Auf dem Holzweg Richtung Zukunft? Eine Ethnographie über das Erleben von Wald- und Klimawandel im Harz” was supervised by Prof. Dr. Michael Schnegg (UHH, Social and Cultural Anthropology) and Prof. Dr. Simone Rödder (UHH, Sociology).
Inga's doctoral thesis, based on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Harz Mountains (March 2021–May 2022), explores how local actors experience and interpret forest and climate change while envisioning the future of the forest amidst advancing anthropogenic climate change. She reveals the existence of diverse "forest worlds," where contrasting ways of experiencing the forest lead to differing explanations of its decline. This ontological multiplicity not only fosters conflict but also shapes whether the forest's state is seen as a crisis or an opportunity. Inga demonstrates that while media narratives often focus on climate change as the primary cause, her participants offer a more nuanced, multicausal understanding of forest dieback. This perspective explains seemingly contradictory reactions and highlights why many locals remain hopeful about the forest's future.
Inga was a member of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology and CLICCS B1 (Social Constructions of Climate Futures) at the University of Hamburg.
Her future plans?
Inga has already started her new role at Saarland University as the Personal Adviser to the Vice-President for Research and Outreach, allowing her to stay connected to current research while focusing on its management and strategic development.
Inga's articles (and soon the monograph) as well as all the CLICCS B1 work can be found here.