Congratulations to Matthew Childs: Hanauer Fellow 2019-2020

Submitted by Michael Neininger on
Matthew Childs

I am honored to have received the Hanauer Fellowship for Excellence in Western Civilization for the 2019-2020 academic year. I am excited to be learning once again from our very own Professor Sabine Wilke as we attempt to think outside the box about human relationships with the environment and how they have come to shape us.

The Hanauer Fellowship requires one to study Western Civilization intensively in order to understand its impacts, imperfections, and importance for the world today. I will be focusing on themes aligned with my dissertation research, namely philosophical, literary, technological, and socio-economic developments of nineteenth-century Europe, particularly Germany, and the ways in which they influenced perceptions of human agency. This period primed the cultural attitudes of the modern world and these trends can still be identified today, such as society’s uncritical, technophilia-based responses to ongoing issues of climate change and environmental destruction.

I look forward to working alongside my colleague Justin Mohler as well as the other brilliant fellows who are participating in the seminar. Their own brilliant and insightful work will undoubtedly shed new light on my own undertaking and I certainly hope to return the favor. 

Share