Return of the Repressed Heat

The Centre for Comparative Literature and the Institute for Environment, Conservation and Sustainability at the University of Toronto Scarborough are excited to be hosting Professor Andreas Malm from Lund University for a public lecture.

Title: ‘Return of the Repressed Heat: Towards a Freudo-Marxist Theory of Geoengineering'

Date: Friday October 10, 2025

Time: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Location: University of Toronto - Emmanuel College, 75 Queen's Park Cresent East, Toronto

Room #: EM 001

Abstract: As temperatures and emissions continue to soar in tandem, solar geoengineering is rising steadily on the agenda. Planes have already been launched to test the basics of sulphate aerosol injection. Denial of the climate crisis – a denial that comes in the most multifarious forms – appears to be poised for an upgrading into repression. This talk will argue that geoengineering would constitute a materialised repression of global warming, with all the dangers posed by a seemingly inevitable return of the repressed. Drawing on one interpretation of the passage from denial to repression, it will make a broader case for Freudo-Marxist theory as key to understanding contemporary climate politics. As we move deeper into the heat, the responses – including the material make-up of technologies for managing the fallout – have to be recognised in their constitutive psychic dimensions. Freudo-Marxist theory, in the tradition of the second generation of political Freudians and the Frankfurt school, is an indispensable guide to this age of catastrophe.

Please RSVP for the public lecture on Eventbrite.

For questions or to request accessibility accommodations, please email the Centre for Comparative Literature (Y29tcGFyYXRpdmUgISBsaXRlcmF0dXJlIHwgdXRvcm9udG8gISBjYQ==).

We look forward to welcoming you at our event!

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