Ulrike Haß – Speziestrouble und die Unruhe des Planetarischen

In the organizer's words:

To kick off the three-part lecture series "Fremder Planet", theater scholar Ulrike Haß talks about the human species, the first biological species to cause mass extinction. The image that this species has of itself has grown historically - and is decisive for the human triumph over nature.

This has been driven primarily by the rationalism of the Christian, western, white world. However, it is based on decisions made in pre-Christian times. Self-definition as a species is particularly important for this. Over very long periods of time, agrarian, sedentary cultures displace nomadic ones, and the widespread notion of a uterine origin of life is replaced by the discovery of a male part in procreation. The emphasis slowly shifts from childbirth to generation. As soon as sperm is established as the first cause of procreation, procreation is regarded as a male project. A gender binary emerges. It allows people to be defined as coming from two people. Cross-species relationships and gender plurality are excluded as "not human". An inclusive concept of species cuts off relations to any form of other life on which the species depends. Today, for the first time, a biological species is causing mass extinction and the prospect is emerging that life can destroy itself.