Resilience for a Sustainable Future

The Earth’s climate is undoubtedly undergoing drastic change. In this talk, we’ll explore some of the most fundamental ecological processes and how they connect directly to our own health. Here is our invitation to re-establish a direct connection between you and your environment.

How do cities deal with climate change—and how do their inhabitants live through it? How are extreme weather events actually experienced? And what do people do when an invasive water hyacinth seems to take over an entire city? Cultural anthropology approaches these questions by paying close attention to everyday life and how people navigate these challenges in practice.

This talk explores how residents and policymakers in the megacity of Ho Chi Minh City deal with flooding in their daily lives, what kinds of local knowledge they rely on, and how urban planning is beginning to move beyond purely technical “quick fixes” toward approaches that take lived experience and local contexts more seriously. At the same time, not everyone is affected by flooding in the same way—and not all forms of knowledge are equally valued. By highlighting differences shaped by gender and class, this talk shows how climate responses emerge from the complex relationships between people, infrastructure, and the environment.