A Panel Discussion | 

In this discussion we will consider the role of literature and the intellectual world in the discourse about the environmental crisis and its connection to capitalism. Contemporary literature has started addressing the climate crisis; this is manifested in the representation of animals in the attempt to question the traditional anthropocentrism of Western culture. We will discuss Haviva Pedaya’s book The Eye of the Cat, which appeared in 2008, and the environmental, theological, and aesthetic proposals it contains. We will think about the changes that the book proposes in relation to humankind and nature. In a contemporary perspective we will ask: What is the desired awakening in a reality characterized by radical changes?

Participants

Chair: Dr. Tafat Hacohen-Bick, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

Prof. Haviva Pedaya, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Dr. Ofri Ilany, Polonsky Fellow, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute