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A Brief History of Environmental Humour

What is and can be the role of humour in environmental literature? Nicole Seymour will explore this question by discussing two primary Anglophone genres: nature writing and cli-fi. While the first has been widely stereotyped as preachy and sentimental, Seymour returns to its playful roots as well as its recent tradition of self-satire. And while cli-fi has a progressive reputation, she will show that the genre’s recent deployments of humour have had troubling effects, such as erasing Indigenous perspectives.
Date
3 September 2026
Time
20:00
Location
SPUI25

Seymour will place these phenomena in their larger contexts, including the development of queer ecologies as a critical framework and the rise of meta-modernism as a cultural sensibility. After her talk, she will be joined in conversation by Peter van Dam, Barnita Bagchi, and moderator Jesse van Amelsvoort. Together, they will think about environmental humour in other literary and cultural traditions and histories across Europe, South Asia, and North America. How do protest movements use humour and other playful affects? How to read Dutch environmental discourses and genres in this respect? And how does children’s literature incorporate humour?

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About SPUI25

SPUI25 is the academic-cultural podium of Amsterdam. Since 2007, we have been giving scientists, authors, artists and other thinkers the opportunity to shine a light on issues that occupy, inspire or concern them. In cooperation with a large number of academic and cultural partners, we organize between 250 and 300 freely accessible programs per year. These are enriching, often interdisciplinary programs that move between science and culture, fact and fiction.

SPUI25 is one of the UvA-podia in the University Quarter.

View the calendar of events organised by UvA-podia in the University Quarter
SPUI25

Spui 25-27
1012 WX Amsterdam