Barbara Muraca

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Barbara Muraca

Environmental Arts & Humanities Initiative - Courtesy Faculty Appointment

Corvallis, OR
United States

2012-2014 Senior Researcher - Advanced-Research Group 'Landnahme, Acceleration, Activation. Dynamics and (De)stabilization of Post-Growth-Societies‘ - Department of Sociology - University of Jena, Germany

2008-2011 Lecturer in Moral Philosophy and Environmental Ethics - Department of Botany and Landscape Ecology - University of Greifswald, Germany

2004 Visiting student at CGU (Claremont Graduate University), Claremont, California.

2004-2008 Ph.D. Grant by the German Foundation Hans-Boeckler Stiftung - University of Greifswald, Germany

2001-2003 Researcher and Project Assistant  at the Institute for Environmental Communication - Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany

1998-2000 Instructor of Italian as a second language (VHS and University of Hamburg)

Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Greifswald, Germany (2008). MA in philosophy from the University of Turin, Italy (1998)

 

 

 

 

Research/Career Interests

Dr. Barbara Muraca (PhD University of Greifswald) studied philosophy in Turin, Italy, and Greifswald, Germany. She completed her Ph.D. in Philosophy with a dissertation on the philosophical foundations of Strong Sustainability (book published with Alber Verlag in 2010 and awarded with the Karl Alber Award).
She specialized in Environmental Philosophy (Sustainability Theory & Degrowth-research), Social Philosophy, and Process Thought (Whitehead).
She has authored several articles on related topics including: "Décroissance: A Project for a Radical Transformation of Society", in: Environmental Values (2013), “Towards a fair degrowth-society: Justice and the right to a 'good life' beyond growth, in: Futures (2012),  “The Map of Moral Significance: a new matrix for environmental ethics, in: Environmental Values 20 (2011), and “Strong sustainability as a frame for sustainability communication (with Konrad Ott and Christian Baatz). In: Godemann, J., Michelsen, G. (Hg..): Sustainability Communication: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoretical Foundations. Springer 2010.

Selected Publications in English:

  • Muraca, B., Döring, R. (2017): "From (strong) Sustainability to Degrowth: A Philosophical and Historical Reconstruction". In: Caradonna, J.: Routledge Handbook of the History of Sustainability. London:Routledge, 339-361.
  • Muraca, B. Neuber, F. (in press): "Viable and Convivial Technologies: Considerations on Climate Engineering from a Degrowth Perspective". In: Journal of Cleaner Production. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.04.159
  • Muraca, B., Schmelzer, M. (2017): “Sustainable degrowth: historical roots of the search for alternatives to growth in three regions.” In: Borowy, I., Schmelzer, M.: History of the Future of Economic Growth - Historical roots of current debates on sustainable degrowth. London: Routledge, 174-196.
  • Muraca, B. (2016): Re-appropriating the Ecosystem Services concept for a decolonization of 'nature', In Bannon, B.: Nature and Experience. Rowman & Littlefield, 143-156.
  • Muraca, B. (2016): Relational Values: A Whiteheadian Alternative for Environmental Philosophy and Global Environmental Justice, Balkan Journal of Philosophy 8 (1), 19-38.
  • Chan, Kai et al. (2016): Why protect nature? Rethinking values and the environment, PNAS 113 (6), 1462-1465 Available here: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/6/1462 
  • Muraca, B. (2015): Care for our Common Home and the Degrowth Movement: A Message of Radical Transformation. In: Cobb, J. and Castuera, I.: For Our Common Home. Process-relational Responses to Laudato Si’. Anoka: Process Century Press, 139-149.
  • Petridis, P.,Muraca, B. Kallis, G. (2015): Degrowth: between a scientific concept and a slogan for a social movement. In: Martinez-Alier, J., Muradian, R.: Handbook of Ecological Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 176-200.
  • Asara, V., Muraca B. (2015): Indignados (Occupy). In: D'Alisa, G., Demaria, F., Kallis, G. (ed.): Degrowth: a vocabulary for a new paradigm. Oxford: Routledge, 168-171.
  • Muraca, B. (2014): Teleology and the life sciences: between limit concept and ontological necessity. in: Koutroufinis, S. (ed.). Life and Process. Towards a New Biophilosophy, Berlin: De Gruyter, 38-71.
  • Muraca, B. (2013): Décroissance: A Project for a Radical Transformation of Society, Environmental Values 22 (2), 147-169. http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/096327113X13581561725112
  • Jax, Kurt et al. (2013): Ecosystem services and ethics. Ecological Economics 93, 260–268. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.06.008
  • Muraca, B. (2012): Towards a fair degrowth-society: Justice and the right to a ‘good life’ beyond growth, Futures 44 (6), 535–545 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2012.03.014
  • Muraca, B. (2011): The Map of Moral Significance: a new matrix for environmental ethics, Environmental Values 20 (3), 375-396. http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/096327111X13077055166063
  • Ott, K., Muraca, B., Baatz, C. (2011): Strong sustainability as a frame for sustainability communication. In: Godemann, J., Michelsen, G. (eds.): Sustainability Communication: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoretical Foundations. Springer, 13-25. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-007-1697-1_2
  • Muraca, B. (2008): Ecology between natural science and environmental ethics. Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism and its contribution to an ecological worldview in: Weber, M. (ed.): Handbook of Whiteheadien Process Thought. Frankfurt, Lancaster: Ontos, 33-50
  • Muraca, B. (2007): Getting Over “Nature”: Modern Bifurcations, Postmodern Possibilities, in: Keller, C.; Kearns, L. (eds.): Ecospirit. Religions and Philosophies for the Earth. New York: Fordham University Press, 156-177

Selected Publications in German:

  • Muraca, B. (2017): Prozessphilosophie als Grundlage für die ökologische Ökonomik: Gemeinsamkeiten und Differenzen mit dem Critical Realism. In: Lindner, U., Mader, D.: Critical Realism meets Kritische Soziologie: Erklärung und Kritik in den Sozialwissenschaften. Bielefeld: Transcript (De Gruyter), 243-270.
  • Muraca, B. (2017): Werte und Gutes Leben. In: Ott et al.: Handbuch der Umweltethik. Stuttgart: Metzler, 117-120.
  • Bohmann, U., Muraca, B. (2016): Demokratische Transformation als Transformation der Demokratie: Postwachstum und radikale Demokratie. In: AK Postwachstum (Hg.): Wachstum-Krise und Kritik. Die Grenzen der kapitalistisch-industriellen Lebensweise. Frankfurt/ New York: Campus, 289-311.
  • Muraca, B. (2015): Wider den Wachstumswahn: Degrowth als konkrete Utopie. In: Blätter für Deutsche und Internationale Politik 2 (2015), pp. 101-109. Republished in the volume: Blätter für deutsch und internationale Politik: ’Mehr geht nicht: Der Postwachstums-Reader’, Berlin: Edition Blätter, 199-208.
  • Muraca, B. (2014): Gut Leben: Eine Gesellschaft jenseits des Wachstums. Berlin: Wagenbach, 98 pages.
  • Muraca, B. (2010): Denken in Grenzgebiet: prozessphilosophische Grundlagen einer Theorie starker Nachhaltigkeit. Freiburg/München: Karl Alber Verlag, 442 pages
  • Muraca, B., von Egen-Krieger, T., Vetter, A. (2013): Gutes Leben jenseits des Wachstums - Entwürfe und Kritik feministischer Ökonomik. In: Rudolf, C., Heide, D., Lemmle, J., Roßhart, J., Vetter, A. (Hg.): Schneewittchen rechnet ab. Feministische Ökonomie für anderes Leben, Arbeiten und Produzieren. Hamburg: VSA, 16-30
  • Muraca, B. (Aug. 2013): Whiteheads Prozessphilosophie und die umweltethische Debatte. In: Vogt, M., Ostheimer, J., Uekötter, F. (Hg.): Wo steht die Umweltethik? Argumentationsmuster im Wandel. Marburg: Metropolis, 235-258.
Education

* Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Greifswald, Germany
* MA in Philosophy from the University of Turin, Italy

Employment

Career
* 2012-2014 Senior Researcher - Advanced-Research Group Post-Growth-Societies - Department of Sociology - University of Jena, Germany
* 2008-2011 Lecturer in Moral Philosophy and Environmental Ethics - Department of Botany and Landscape Ecology - University of Greifswald, Germany

Service

* Co-director of IAEP (International Association of Environmental Philosophy)
* Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal 'Environmental Values'

 

Professional Affiliations

* IAEP - International Association for Environmental Philosophy
* ISEE - International Society of Ecological Economics
* ISEE - International Society of Environmental Ethics
* SPEP - Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
* APA - American Philosophical Association
* CPS - Center for Process Studies 

Honors and Awards
  • Ph.D. Grant 2004-2008 by the German Foundation 'Hans-Böckler-Stiftung'
  • Karl-Alber Award 2009
Courses Taught

 

Additional Information

January-March 2018: Research Fellow in residence at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Hamburg, Germany

Summer 2017: Research Fellow in residence at the Federal Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany

Personal Interests

My favorite quote about what philosophy is for me is from Alfred North Whitehead's book Modes of Thought: "Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains". Whitehead's philosophy is an important guide to my work both in research and in teaching. I have worked for many years on sustainability theory, environmental and social philosophy and love feminist philosophy. My research focuses more specifically on the philosophical foundations of political ecology and on global environmental justice.

Currently, I am working on the role of concrete utopias and social experiments for a social ecological transformation. In particular, my research focuses on the Southern European 'Degrowth' movement and discourse. The main challenge is to imagine an equal, just, and participatory society that does no longer rely on economic growth for its own stabilization. 

I also work on society-nature relations and how the understanding of our relation to what we call nature shapes our self-understanding as individuals and as communities. 

If you want to know more about degrowth and/or my research, check these links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1_2T3bnF1A

 http://grist.org/politics/watch-our-juicy-explainer-about-the-environments-growing-economics-problem/

http://leipzig.degrowth.org/en/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqElqtx4m8A