Off the Road: A Podcast about the Environmental Humanities

How do we read for energy? How can reading save the planet?

In this episode, Jannis speaks about such questions with the brilliant Jennifer Wenzel, who is not only professor of English and Comparative Literature and professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia University, but also a leading scholar and founding voice in the energy humanities. Drawing on her groundbreaking work, Jennifer invites us to think about the often-hidden connections between energy, culture, and the planet.

In this conversation, Jennifer recounts the creation of the energy humanities and explains how energy, and oil especially, has influenced...

When we think about the environment, we often picture oceans, forests, and other green places. But what if literature, hip hop, and even the history of the automobile have just as much to teach us about the environment?

In this episode, we sit down with Timo Müller, professor of American Studies at the University of Konstanz and researcher specializing in modernism, the environmental humanities, postcolonial studies, and African American studies. From modernist literature to climate change, from American road trips to hip hop lyrics, Timo explains why "the environment" is far more than the landscape around us—it's also a story...

What happens when plants become monsters in our stories? Does thinking about the planet as something strange, unfamiliar, and weird offer us a better tool set to confront the challenges of climate crisis? In this episode, we explore such questions with Natalie Dederichs, academic Councilor at the Universität zu Köln and researcher specializing in climate fiction, ecocriticism, and teaching sustainability. From climate fiction to the unsettling world of plant horror, Natalie dives into how stories can help young readers engage with environmental challenges in new and unexpected ways.

We discuss her work with the ReaCH-CliFi Lab, her experiences teaching young...

In the very first episode of the “Off the Road” podcast, Gilberto and Jannis have a chance to sit down with Corey Ross, director of the institute and professor of European Global Studies at the Europainstitut of the University of Basel. We speak with Corey about the intellectual paths that led him to environmental history, the development of the field in the United States and Europe, and the relationship between empire, water, and the environment. At the center of the conversation is Corey’s latest, brilliant book, Liquid Empire: Water and Power in the Colonial World (Princeton University Press, 2024), which...