HF12: Climate Havens and the Humanities

Collaborative Goals

We seek to initiate a conversation, and establish directions for future research, on how cultural and historical narratives, ethics, and social justice shape human responses to climate. We plan to achieve this through online and in-person symposia featuring discussions, keynote addresses, and informal conversations, which will help us develop key research questions and identify interdisciplinary connections essential for advancing this research agenda.

During our first year (2025-26 AY), we seek to hold a 2-day workshop/symposium that will focus on a set of key humanities themes in the study of climate havens.

The first workshop will focus on the meaning of climate havens from interdisciplinary humanistic perspectives. Titled “In Search of Havens Past, Present, and Future,” it will focus on the complexities associated with the idea of finding refuge in a rapidly changing world. Panelists will consider climate refuge within the broader historical context of U.S. “havens” dating back to the Underground Railroad and extending through recent global migration trends and their impact on various cities and regions.

The second workshop, “The Great Lakes as Environmental Refuge: Perils and Promise,” will focus on the meaning of climate havens in the Great Lakes region, generally, and Rochester in particular. By examining the local and regional environmental context against the backdrop of global climate disasters and the call for climate havens in the Great Lakes, we hope to develop a deeper understanding of haven building.

The workshop proceedings will culminate in an edited volume published within the University of Rochester Press’s “Humanities in the World” series.