B8907 - Knowledge, Infrastructures and Climate (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will learn the main concepts and approaches related to the material and social aspects of knowledge and the role of knowledge infrastructures in society. Students will be able to understand how knowledge is organized and maintained in practice and how actors are enabled or not, exploring various settings where specific regimes of truth or ignorance are constituted and shaped. In particular, students will develop a basic understanding of climate knowledge and its historical origins, learning how it is connected with climate politics and economy, as well as how climate disinformation is produced.

Course contents

The course follows a transdisciplinary approach and is centered on the study of the material and social dimension of knowledge. This is the meaning of the concept of "knowledge infrastructures," understood as consolidated networks of people, artifacts and institutions for the generation, sharing, and maintenance of specific knowledge about the human and natural world.

• What are knowledge infrastructures?
• What kind of knowledge is produced and materialized from infrastructures?
• What type of actors do they mobilize?
• What technopolitical orders do they make durable?
• How to repair or mantain knowledge infrastructures?
• What happens when a knowledge infrastructure reaches a breaking point?
• What is the relationship between infrastructures, knowledge, non-knowledge, and digitization?

During the course we will observe knowledge infrastructures at work in different fields related to climate, including scientific knowledge, local knowledge, health, work, migration, energy.

Focus: knowledge infrastructures of ice and fire

In this edition, part of the course will be dedicated to the natures, politics and cultures of the cryosphere and pyrosphere and to the knowledge infrastructures built to govern and understand them.

Why ice? First, because we will see less and less of it. Second, because ice represents an "interscalar vehicle": ice allows us to follow the tangle of practices, knowledge, and relationships straddling politics, economy, society, science, technology, between the human and the non-human, life and death, putting us in contact with the deep past and future of the planet.

Why fire? Because it is everywhere. From the progressive rise in the planet's average temperatures to fires that devastate increasingly extensive territories, to energy policies based on fossil fuels and investments in nuclear fusion, to wars, fire - in its technoscientific, social, economical and political forms - is a defining element of the Anthropocene. Like ice, fire crosses the boundaries between local and global, between matter and power, past and future, questioning us about the contradictions of "carbon democracies" and about issues of energy and climate justice.

Readings/Bibliography

REQUIRED READINGS:

Study of the following articles and specified chapters from the following texts is mandatory:

• Aykut, Stefan and Maertens, Lucile (Eds.) (2023) The Climatization of Global Politics, Cham, Springer International Publishing.
• Bowker, Geoffrey C. and Star, Susan Leigh (1999) Sorting things out: classification and its consequences, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press. (CHAPTER 1)
• Edwards, Paul N. (2013) A vast machine: computer models, climate data, and the politics of global warming, Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England, The MIT Press. (CHAPTERS 1, 8, 9, 10)
• Hecht, Gabrielle (2018) Interscalar Vehicles for an African Anthropocene: On Waste, Temporality, and Violence, in "Cultural Anthropology", 33 (1), pp. 109–141.
• Klein, Naomi (2019) On fire: the (burning) case for a green new deal, London, Allen Lane. (CHAPTER 1)
• Lemke, Thomas (2024) Anticipating and suspending: the chronopolitics of cryopreservation, in "BioSocieties", 19 (4), pp. 556–573.
• Mitchell, Timothy (2011) Carbon democracy: political power in the age of oil, London, New York, Verso. (CHAPTERS 1, 7)

Study of one text of choice from the following is mandatory:

• Conway, Erik M. and Oreskes, Naomi (2014) Merchants of doubt, London, Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Cruikshank, Julie (2005) Do glaciers listen? Local knowledge, colonial encounters, and social imagination, University of British Columbia Press.
• Denis, Jérôme and Pontille, David (2025) The care of things ethics and politics of maintenance, Cambridge, polity.
• Hecht, Gabrielle (2023) Residual Governance: How South Africa Foretells Planetary Futures, Duke University Press.

Teaching methods

The course will be conducted through lectures, encouraging discussion and interaction during the class using audiovisual materials and texts shared in Virtuale. This can be done through raising hands during the lecture or at the end, as well as through group exercises. After the lecture, interaction will also be possible through the forum active on virtuale.unibo.it.

There may be guest lecturers invited during the course to speak on specific topics. Additionally, if there are seminars and conferences relevant to our subjects taking place at the department, you will be invited to attend, but it will be optional.

During the course, particularly on Wednesdays, the lessons will have a laboratory-style approach with group and/or individual exercises and presentations, as well as instructions on essay writing.

Finally, it's possible that some lessons of the course may beintegrated by events taking place outside of regular class hours in the form of film screenings organized as part of the course, in movie theaters.

Assessment methods

Given the educational objectives, the assessment aims to evaluate:

• The student's knowledge of the indicated texts.
• The comprehension of the problem of knowledge in its social and material complexity.
• The ability to present the course topics in an organized and clear manner, either orally or in writing, depending on the chosen mode.
• The critical thinking skills that the student can apply to the proposed topics.

Active participation will be encouraged and duly considered for the overall evaluation.

To pass the exam, students have two options:

A) Writing a final essay in English language, between 2500 and 3000 words. There is no distinction between attending and non-attending students. Essays can be submitted between May 7 and October 10, 2026.

If you need a correction within specific deadlines, for example in view of graduation, you will have to let me know at the time of submission and give me at least 20 days anyway for the correction. In any case, the essay must be submitted no later than 10 days from the exam date chosen.

A list of suggested topics for the essay will be provided during the course and will mainly concern the monographic part, but it will be possible to agree on personalized topics. In any case, it will be essential to make explicit the relevance of the essay in dialogue with the texts indicated in the course and other texts suggested.

For non-attending students, the writing and discussion of the essay requires the additional study of two texts as indicated in the program.

The paper will receive a grade out of thirty (communicated individually to each student). Students can decide whether to confirm the written grade or attempt to improve it with an oral exam during one of the regular exam sessions.

I will take due account of the linguistic difficulties of students whose first language is not English.

Writing and editorial guidelines: students who have already attended the Writing Workshop can follow the provided Editorial Guidelines. However, a brief handbook with the main instructions regarding citations, footnotes, and essay structure will be provided.

The parameters evaluated in the paper and the components of the final grade are as follows:

1. Understanding of the considered texts (knowledge of content, ability to grasp the most relevant information and deep meaning): up to 12 out of thirty.
2. Writing correctness (spelling, syntax, punctuation, command of philosophical and general vocabulary): up to 6 out of thirty.
3. Clarity, thematic relevance, breadth, and coherence of the exposition (well-articulated essay, ability to communicate information in a complete and clear manner, without digressions): up to 5 out of thirty.
4. Logical coherence, quality, and rigor of the argumentation: up to 4 out of thirty.
5. Originality of ideas and personal reflection (identifying critical points in the texts, formulating objections, developing insights from the texts): up to 4 out of thirty.
6. Participation in class and online discussions: up to 1 out of thirty.

B) Instead of the essay, it is possible to take a traditional oral exam. In this case, the exam bibliography will consist of texts 1 and 2, plus one chosen from the indicated groups above. For non-attending students, the oral exam includes the discussion of an additional text of their choice from those indicated.

All oral exams begin with a presentation on a chosen topic within the program. Prepare to speak for about 15 minutes; you can use notes, refer to the texts, and any resources that may be useful. The chosen topic accounts for approximately two-thirds of the exam. This will be followed by one or two questions from me on other aspects of the program. I may ask you to read and comment on a passage.

In the oral exam, clarity, correct grammatical expression, and originality of reflection will also be evaluated, approximately according to the parameters indicated for the written exam.

Exam sessions

During the 2025/2026 academic year, exam sessions are scheduled in the following months: May, June, July, September, October

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special adjustments according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the instructor but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adjustments.

For more information, visit the page: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

It is recommended that students contact the University office in advance. Any proposed adjustments must be submitted at least 15 days in advance for the instructor’s approval, who will evaluate their appropriateness in relation to the learning objectives of the course.

Teaching tools

A complementary module on the university's e-learning platform (virtuale.unibo.it) is linked to the course. Through the platform, a discussion forum will be activated. The site will also be used for the distribution of additional materials and the notification of events or calendar changes. Those who wish to take this exam must enroll on Virtuale.

The slides presented during the lectures will be made available through this site.

Office hours

See the website of Claudio Coletta