Oral Presentation by Anna Saave¹
¹ Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
TIME: Thursday, 16 July, 10:30 – 12:00
Location: Room 2
Session: 18
Abstract
Across overlapping crises—ecological breakdown, democratic erosion, war, and social fragmentation—critical research and activism are marked by increasing analytical precision and urgency, while realpolitik remains largely stalled. Those engaged in these fields confront a twofold challenge: external obstacles such as stalled climate politics and the dismantling of social welfare systems, alongside internal dynamics of exhaustion, fragmentation, and loss of momentum. This contribution reflects on the collective, personal, and interpersonal tensions encountered in practicing a critique of capitalism under these conditions. Starting from experiences within research and activist contexts, the poster examines the intimate toll of sustained engagement with systems of power—capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy—that systematically undermine ecological and social flourishing, even as those engaged work toward precisely that flourishing. Rather than suggesting that critique turns against itself, these dynamics are interpreted as the relational and affective costs of sustained critical practice under conditions of permanent crisis and limited political uptake. While critical work continues to generate important insights and distinctions, it often lacks shared capacities for orientation, accountability, and collective decision-making—capacities conceptualized here as discernment as a shared skill. Drawing on ecofeminist ethics, political economy, systems thinking, reflections from degrowth movements, and relational practices informed by systemic counseling, the poster introduces discernment as a shared skill as a response to this gap. Discernment is conceptualized not as an individual cognitive ability, moral value, or normative ideal, but as a collectively cultivated, relational, and embodied capacity to navigate contradiction, affect, and power in critical research and movement contexts. Emphasizing practice over prescription, discernment operates as critique-in-action: enabling connection, decisiveness, and accountability despite difference and uncertainty. The poster outlines the necessity of shared discernment under capitalist crises, develops the concept, and situates it within the broader mosaic of transformative critical sustainability studies.