{"id":164839,"date":"2020-10-20T07:45:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T11:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=164839"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:14:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:14:54","slug":"great-derangement-novelist-ghoshs-meditation-climate-change-2020-21-uconn-reads-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/10\/great-derangement-novelist-ghoshs-meditation-climate-change-2020-21-uconn-reads-selection\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Great Derangement,\u2019 Novelist Ghosh\u2019s Meditation on Climate Change, is 2020-21 UConn Reads Selection"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a moment when out-of-control wildfires and devastating hurricanes are the stuff of daily headlines, climate change is looming larger in the national conversation, a development that will be furthered during the academic year by the selection of Amitav Ghosh\u2019s \u201cThe Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable\u201d for UConn Reads 2020-21<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ghosh, an Indian-born novelist known for the lauded Ibis Trilogy and other works, wrote \u201cThe Great Derangement,\u201d a non-fiction work, as an attempt to explain the \u201cimaginative failure\u201d of contemporary society in coming to grips with the scope of the challenge presented by climate change.<\/p>\n

\""Great
Amitav Ghosh (Photo by Ivo van der Bent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons climate change is \u2018unthinkable\u2019 is because there\u2019s a long history of assuming the world has been more or less the same forever, and only changing gradually according to a set of well-known laws,\u201d says Michael Willig, board of trustees distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, executive director of the Institute of the Environment, and the chair of the UConn Reads Steering Committee, that is involved with programming activities that are related to the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, we know there have been a lot of unpredictable, extreme events that have changed the course of life on earth, and that climate change isn\u2019t just \u2018business as usual,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Willig says the selection is an ideal choice for the University not only because of its topicality, but because Ghosh\u2019s work touches so many different spheres \u2013 art, social science, biophysical science, engineering, law, health, business, and more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our goals is to encourage the inclusion of a broad range of diverse perspectives from a whole range of fields in thinking about a problem that\u2019s one of the most pressing issues facing society in the 21st<\/sup> century,\u201d Willig says.<\/p>\n

That extends not only to students, faculty, and staff on all UConn campuses, but to alumni, donors, and Connecticut residents at large, Willig says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis influences the long-term trajectory of our entire society in the U.S. and the world,\u201d Willig says. \u201cThis is really a book for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UConn Reads Steering Committee \u2013 consisting of students, faculty, and staff members \u2013 is currently planning a number of activities around the book for the academic year, including hosting Ghosh for a formal virtual presentation and extended discussion; supporting guided discussions for groups of individuals reading the book; working with the Office of the Provost and University Communications to offer the UConn community a chance to react to the book across multiple platforms; and encouraging the inclusion of the book in readings for a variety of classes.<\/p>\n

Regarding the selection, UConn President Thomas Katsouleas says \u201cUConn is well positioned for an extended meditation on the significance of Ghosh\u2019s book. Our faculty and students are engaged with climate change<\/a> and its ramifications across a number of disciplines and research projects, that focus on the \u201cbig picture\u201d as well as the effects of climate change we can see on our campuses<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further announcements of programming and events tied in with UConn Reads will be made via UConn Today, the University\u2019s social media channels, and other means. For any questions or to share ideas about engagement opportunities, contact Michael Willig (michael.willig@uconn.edu<\/a>) or the UConn Reads Steering Committee (uconnreads@uconn.edu).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Great Derangement,” a meditation on society’s response to climate change, has been selected as the UConn Reads text for the 2020-21 academic year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":165202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387,2235,173,92,174,2225,90,2227,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-164839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-avery-point","category-uconn-hartford","category-uconn-stamford","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-waterbury","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 04:42:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164839"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165223,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164839\/revisions\/165223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/165202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164839"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=164839"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=164839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}