Research Updates : Reflections from the Field

The C-Urge Doctoral Network has been conducting research projects on the social and cultural dimensions of the perception of climate urgency and climate response. When and on what grounds does a sense of urgency arise? When does a climate emergency produce a sense of urgency? How does the relationship with technology and with "non-human others" shape climate perception? These are some of the questions that the 10 C-Urge doctoral candidates have been addressing through a nine-month ethnographic fieldwork in specific location across Sri Lanka, Germany, India, DR Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and Argentina this past year.

Long-term fieldwork is central to our research approach, allowing for in-depth exploration of how notions of climate urgency are entangled with moral economies, local modes of knowledge production, and the social and political tensions and pressures experienced by individuals and organizations alike. While the empirical material collected in the field — including interviews, life stories, community observations, local narratives, and media discourses — is now being analyzed for the next stage of the project, our doctoral researchers are sharing their field experiences and thought processes. These reflections give an update on the evolution of projects as doctoral candidates navigated the specific socio-cultural, environmental, historical, political, and economic dynamics in their field, and offer preliminary insights on how urgency is being lived, shaped, and negotiated on the ground.