Why this work matters
Climate change is not only an environmental issue.
It reshapes infrastructures, cities, inequalities and everyday life.
My research explores how floods, plastics and waste become part of urban futures — and how people navigate environmental transformation politically and socially.
I connect anthropology with public storytelling to make climate change tangible beyond academia.
Current Research
Radical Resilience - Urban Flood Prevention
Coastal cities are particularly affected by climate change due to flooding and rising sea levels. In this context, the project aims to understand the multiple connections between local and gender-specific practices of flood control, the power of (traveling) knowledge productions and flood policies that are based on satellite data.
Circular Economy, Recycling and Waste
This research unpacked a different circular economy and infrastructure model that focuses on the way waste circulates through what I call ‘infracycles’, in the light of daily urban life, postcolonial assumptions of wealth and waste and clandestine and ephemeral constellations with materials that challenge the existent capitalist system with the creation of new tropes of freedom, working autonomy and the will to survive.
Public Engagements & Collaboration
I collaborate across academia, public institutions, NGOs and interdisciplinary initiatives working on climate change, waste, infrastructures and urban futures.
My work includes:
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public talks
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workshops
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interdisciplinary collaborations
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policy dialogue
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consultancy projects
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media contributions
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public storytelling
Teaching
I teach across anthropology, feminist STS, urban studies and environmental humanities, with a focus on climate change and multimodal methods.
Contact: kathrin.eitel[at]posteo.de