Caroline Gottschalk Druschke: Professor, Department of English and Director of Headwaters Lab, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Tamara Dean: author and founder of “Stories from the Flood”
Eric Booth: Associate Scientist and Lecturer, Department of Agronomy and Civil & Environmental Engineering and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Nancy Wedwick: President, Coon Creek Community Watershed Council, Inc.

Moderated by Laurie Moberg: Editor, Open Rivers

As the effects of climate change intensify everywhere, we are constantly looking for strategies to cope with volatile disasters. In 2018, communities across southwestern Wisconsin faced just such a dilemma after devastating floods coursed through the region. From clean-up support to community food pantries and kitchens, people across the area developed creative strategies for recording and narrating their experiences. This work both cultivated community and preserved memories of both the event and the collaborative work that came in its aftermath. Together, scholars and community partners write about this flood recovery work from a feminist perspective in the Fall 2022 issue of Open Rivers, the journal’s second installment focusing on Women & Water. They challenge us to consider: how can we continue to live with floods as a recurrent condition of our changing climate? How does narrating these experiences contribute to climate justice work? Join IAS Thursdays and Open Rivers for a conversation with these contributors as they share their narrative-centered responses to floods and social upheaval and argue that these practices might be understood as part of a feminist response to critical climate justice. 

Presented by the Institute for Advanced Study and Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place & Community. In partnership with the University of Minnesota Department of English; Department of Soil, Water, and Climate; the St. Anthony Falls Lab; the Water Council; and the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Services.

EVENT RESOURCES

• “Storying the Floods: Experiments in Feminist Flood Futures” 
  Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Margot Higgins, Tamara Dean, Eric Booth, Rebecca Lave. Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place & Community, no. 22.
• “Stories from the Flood”
  Project StoryMap. Organizing Team: Tamara Dean, Carly Frerichs, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Lisa Henner, Margot Higgins, Gil Hoel, Robin Hosemann, David Hough, Tim Hundt, Jennifer Morales, Brad Steinmetz 

Image Credit: An area of Leon, Wis., shows flooding Aug, 28, 2018 in Monroe County, Wis. Firefighters with the Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department at Fort McCoy, Wis., helped with rescue operations for the flooding. On Aug. 27 to early Aug. 28, 2018, 5-12 inches of rain fell on several areas of Monroe County, causing flash flooding and stranding residents in flooded areas. Fort McCoy firefighters helped with the rescue of people in the affected areas. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy, Wis.). Courtesy NARA & DVIDS Public Domain Archive.