Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jarred Diamond. 

Feb. 17, 2025 – 11h00

University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies – Research Room.

Online: https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/94399654623?pwd=Fx5ImPMqYNw8mg9KNNAqsS3JIIIuCy.1.

We are pleased to invite you to the discussion of our next book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005) by Jarred Diamond, which will be promoted by Carlos Antunes, a colleague from the Faculty of Sciences of ULisboa. The work in question is of a more general nature, but it gives an important historical perspective on how we have faced “collapses” over time – good, not so good, future, foreseeable and/or hopeful practices in the current environmental crisis. We have sent the book cover to all team members, but can provide you with a digital copy for reading and conversation purposes. As it is a voluminous book, we will focus mainly on the introduction and part iv.

The session will take place in ULICES/CEAUL’s research room, with the possibility of participating online via the link https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/94399654623?pwd=Fx5ImPMqYNw8mg9KNNAqsS3JIIIuCy.1.

Our reading group is part of the American Studies Over_Seas project and aims at interdisciplinary thinking from, through, and together with the Atlantic Ocean, looking at its various coasts, islands, dunes, and stretches of coastline. We meet every two months around a “tidal wave” book, proposed by the members of the group, and according to their different disciplinary areas (as of now, Literature, Natural and Environmental History, Marine Biology, Anthropology, Philosophy, Geographical Engineering). We will thus share how we think the text addresses our interests and questions, namely how it can deepen a common critical mass that empowers us for research, cross-pollination, and action on the crossroads of coastal and Atlantic studies.

For further questions, requests or suggestions on our Reading Circle, please contact Isabel Alves at ifalves@utad.pt