WATER ECOLOGIES ~ Melting

Session 1 — Ice in the tropics and sensing the cryosphere
April 15th 
with Juan Pablo Pacheco 

An introduction to water ecologies and blue humanities, talk about the potential relation between tropical glaciers melting and datacenter projects in Latin America. Focus on the oxymoron of tropical glaciers and mourning for the disappearance of ice. Theorize about the cryosphere (crying of ice). Do a round of introductions, to know where everyone is coming from.

This opening session introduces the seminar’s conceptual framework through the lens of water ecologies and blue humanities, focusing on ice as a planetary sensor rather than a distant or marginal phenomenon. The session explores the paradox of tropical glaciers and their accelerated disappearance, placing them in relation to extractive economies and emerging data center infrastructures in Latin America. Ice is approached as both a material archive and a vulnerable presence, prompting questions of mourning, care, and planetary sensing.

Session 2 — Circumpolar melting and sovereignty
April 22nd 

Focused on Greenland political ecology, melting of ice-sheet, rising sea levels, from an environmental perspective but also from a political ecology perspective, taking into account indigenous rights of Inuit communities, who govern Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat). 

Focusing on Greenland and the Circumpolar Arctic region, this session dives into emerging environmental science on ice ecologies, its implications for climate justice, and the political consequences of accelerating ice-sheet melting. Rising sea levels, climate feedback loops, and glacial instability are discussed alongside questions of governance, sovereignty, and political ecology. Special attention will be given to Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) and how melting ice reshapes geopolitical claims, infrastructural ambitions, and indigenous rights, situating Greenland within broader planetary struggles over territory and climate responsibility.

Session 3 — Geopolitics of Antarctica
April 29th 

From her paper “A South American Perspective on Antartic Geopolitics”:  “Despite its broad significance for Earth systems, Antarctica has always had more limited political relevance. This limitation is most explicit in relation to the profile of its main actors: the Global North has been a predominant participant in the history of the continent’s regime. A South American perspective offers a counterpoint to this narrative: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay engage directly in decision-making and provide an alternative to an “unreachable” or “exclusive” Antarctic. Likewise, Colombia and Venezuela demonstrate how new actors are pursuing stronger involvement through regional cooperative ties. Mindful of their diverse Antarctic histories, this chapter discusses South American engagement in Antarctica by focusing on how South American geopolitical thought entitles actors from the global periphery to engage in a once-exclusive region. I first introduce the main assumptions of South America’s geopolitical thought, then briefly recount the individual historical journeys of these South American actors in Antarctica. I demonstrate how South America has organised itself regionally through the creation of institutions, such as RAPAL, and cooperative initiatives between national programmes. I conclude with the potential influence of non-regional actors—such as China and the United States—on the future South American geopolitical imaginary of Antarctica.”

Antarctica is often imagined as a remote, neutral, or inaccessible continent. This session challenges that perception by foregrounding South American perspectives on Antarctic geopolitics. The session explores how countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay engage directly in Antarctic governance, offering alternatives to Global North–dominated narratives. Regional cooperation, geopolitical imaginaries from the Global South, and the role of emerging actors are discussed in relation to Antarctic treaties, scientific presence, and future territorial tensions. Antarctica emerges here not as an empty or frozen abstraction, but as a politically active space shaped by historical trajectories, regional alliances, and planetary change.

Session 4 — Listening to disappearing glaciers
May 6th

Focused on listening to ice and Arctic waters, and on the role of sound and artistic practice in relating to the worlds of ice and vapor, this session explores how life thrives even in the most remote and cold regions of the planet.

Jana will share experiences from her work in Arctic regions, both above and below the water. She will reflect on her first encounters with glaciers such as Vatnajökull in Iceland, Jostedalsbreen in Norway, and the Kangia Icefjord in Greenland. She will also speak about the acoustics beneath sea ice in the Barents Sea, made audible through the presence of bearded seals, walruses, and the sounds of melting ice.

The session will conclude with reflections on her return last year to the Folgefonna glacier on the west coast of Norway, eighteen years after her previous visit.