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SUMMARY:Pressure Points: Risk - Stefan Leins / RIOT\, MAS UTD
DTSTART:20260929T170000
DTEND:20260929T190000
DTSTAMP:20260917T133948Z
UID:31531f46bb2b59e9f861e1e9f0bc112b9d2853cd7c91f7163e3d3759
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Stefan Leins is Professor of Social Anthropology with a focus 
 on economic anthropology. He conducts research on commodity trading\, supp
 ly chains\, financial markets\, sustainable investing\, and the social rol
 e of economic expertise. His book Stories of Capitalism: Inside the Role o
 f Financial Analysts was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2
 018 and was translated to multiple languages. He is currently working on a
  book on transnational commodity trading networks and the role of moral or
 ders in financial capitalism. His research has been profiled several times
  in German-language newspapers (e.g. Bund\, NZZ\, Republik\, Süddeutsche 
 Zeitung\,\, TAZ\,WOZ) and he has been a guest on various podcasts and vide
 o formats (e.g. Public Eye\, SRF Eco\, UNRISD). Leins is a member of the B
 oard of the Centre for Development and Environment\, as well as an externa
 l member of the council for sustainable investments of the Alternative Ban
 k Switzerland. Since January 2026\, Stefan Leins has been leading the Swis
 s National Science Foundation-funded research project Cultures of Speculat
 ion\, a project that examines current developments in capitalism following
  the financial crisis and analyzes new speculative practices in labor mark
 ets\, the technology sector\, and in the field of cryptocurrencies.\n“To
  emphasize (...) dubious uses of risk is perverse\, a dirty way of talking
  about a\nclean scientific subject”\nMary Douglas\, Risk and Blame\, 36.
 \n\nAs the baseline condition of so many territories shaped by extractive 
 industries\, administrative delay\, and climatic instability\, risk is pre
 valent. Yet ecological risk—pollution\, fires\, floods\, heatwaves\, dro
 ughts—is still presented as problems to be solved rather than conditions
  to be inhabited. This also speaks to an outsourcing of risk through exter
 nalized consequences of spatial injustice. Banks\, developers\, material s
 upply chains\, normative institutions\, subcontracting hierarchies —all 
 contend with calculated risk. This edition of Pressure Points asks us to u
 npack what it means to live with the risk\, how it is managed\, commodifie
 d\, quantified\, invented\, politicized\, instrumentalized\, tamed\, and t
 o think\, design\, cohabitate intellectually and physically with it. The a
 ssembled guests should help us think and build literacy toward developing 
 tools for living within uncertain territories and futures.\n\nStefan Leins
  is Professor of Social Anthropology with a focus on economic anthropology
 . He conducts research on commodity trading\, supply chains\, financial ma
 rkets\, sustainable investing\, and the social role of economic expertise.
  His book Stories of Capitalism: Inside the Role of Financial Analysts was
  published by the University of Chicago Press in 2018 and was translated t
 o multiple languages. He is currently working on a book on transnational c
 ommodity trading networks and the role of moral orders in financial capita
 lism. His research has been profiled several times in German-language news
 papers (e.g. Bund\, NZZ\, Republik\, Süddeutsche Zeitung\,\, TAZ\,WOZ) an
 d he has been a guest on various podcasts and video formats (e.g. Public E
 ye\, SRF Eco\, UNRISD). Leins is a member of the Board of the Centre for D
 evelopment and Environment\, as well as an external member of the council 
 for sustainable investments of the Alternative Bank Switzerland. Since Jan
 uary 2026\, Stefan Leins has been leading the Swiss National Science Found
 ation-funded research project Cultures of Speculation\, a project that exa
 mines current developments in capitalism following the financial crisis an
 d analyzes new speculative practices in labor markets\, the technology sec
 tor\, and in the field of cryptocurrencies.\n\nRIOT (Research and Innovati
 on on Territory) is a laboratory engaged in pedagogy and research within t
 he Institute of Architecture (ENAC) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Tech
 nology–EPFL\, led by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes with Elif Erez\, Flore G
 uichot\, Jeremy Ratib\, Summer Islam\, Antoine Iweins\, Kathy Kao\, Nathal
 ie Marj\, Romain Dubetier-Grenier\, Sylvie Clavel\, and Saira Mohammed. Be
 lieving that the construction sector and design disciplines must pivot and
  wholeheartedly engage in the current social and climatic urgencies by rew
 iring themselves to face and repair the harm\, RIOT utilizes tactics and s
 trategies to decarbonize\, decolonize\, and depatriarchalize space product
 ion–by design.\n 
LOCATION:AAC014
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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