Early Career Workshop, 8–9 October 2026, Jena

On 8 and 9 October 2026, the Research School of the Cluster of Excellence Imaginamics: Practices and Dynamics of Social Imagining at Friedrich Schiller University Jena will host the Early Career Workshop ‘Political Zoologies – Animals at the Intersection of Knowledge, Power and Imagination’.

The workshop explores how animals and zoological knowledge contribute to the creation, legitimisation and transformation of social orders. It focuses on the diverse interconnections between practices of knowledge, political power relations and social imaginaries – from the early modern period to the present day.

Based on the observation that animals are not merely objects of natural history but also function as central points of reference for political and social ideas, the workshop examines how zoological classifications, metaphors and forms of representation shape concepts of difference, hierarchy and normality. Particular attention is paid to the practices of collecting, classifying, comparing and visualising, through which zoological knowledge and imaginations of social order are produced, reproduced and transformed.

Registration:
Please send an email by 18 September 2026 to: frueheneuzeit@uni-jena.de

This initiative is funded by the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (TMBWK).