CURA announces the fall 2025 colloquium schedule. This year-long conversation brings together an interdisciplinary community of scholars of culture, religion, and world affairs. Please register below for the session(s) you plan to attend. The December 5 workshop will feature a paper by Lior Hamovitz, PhD Student, Department of Political Science, Boston University.

Please note that reading the paper in advance is required for attendance. CURA workshops are dedicated to focused, in depth feedback and discussion. A copy of the paper(s) will be sent to registered participants one week in advance of each session.

Abstract:Kinship and Loss in a Warming World – Lessons from the Andean ‘Ayllu’ In the face of accelerating climate change, this paper explores the moral and epistemological frameworks that shape how we understand environmental loss. It argues that dominant Western notions of kinship—rooted in nuclear family, anthropocentrism, and privatized care— are fundamentally ill-equipped to address the scope of ecological devastation people across the globe are facing. Ultimately, the paper offers a call to imagination and action: that in a warming world marked by profound and ongoing loss we must remake our ethical commitments through cultivating kinship networks that allow us to mourn and live on.