Lectio Magistralis by Lorenza Fontana

• Introduction
  • Andrea Bocco, Head of DIST
• Lectio Magistralis
  • Lorenza Fontana, full professor in political science at DIST
• Musical Interlude
  • Simone Pavan, classic guitar

‘It’s Complicated’. Inconvenient answers to simple questions about fires, politics and more

“From ethnic politics and the struggle of indigenous peoples for land and self-determination, to international law that regulates child labor, to socio-environmental conflicts and the political dimensions of fires, this lesson will touch on various (apparently) unrelated topics, to seeking complex answers to (apparently) simple questions. I will refer to the themes of my past and current research by tracing the steps of my professional and personal wanderings. I will focus in particular on transdisciplinary debates on fires by proposing some examples of interaction between political dynamics and fires that will become central with the emergence of new climatic and geopolitical scenarios. In a world that asks for easy (and short) answers to keep complexity, uncertainty, and transformation under control, I will support the value of (rather long) non-intuitive, sometimes unpopular, responses to seemingly obvious questions.”