Something is wrong with the planet, and it has to do with us humans. This insight challenges the sciences, the arts, politics: How can the crises be thought and represented, how can futures be imagined? With a focus on literature (cli-fi, science fiction, nature writing), the course develops a historical-critical perspective on the present and history of the ecological crisis.

How are nonfiction books produced, read, evaluated, sold? What is the place of nonfiction books in the changing publishing cultures since the beginning of the 20th century? And what do nonfiction books do with the knowledge they express?

Science needs to be popularized in order to have an impact on society. Conversely, what is thought, read, and communicated outside the universities has an effect on research. The seminar deals with the history of popular knowledge focusing on the non-fiction book.