02/03/2026
Our director, Susanna Hecht, will be chairing this discussion at the University of Bristol on Monday, 2/23, at from 8:00-9:30 AM PST. "Beyond Micro and Macro: Rethinking the Methods and Politics of Scale." There is a virtual component for those of us not in the UK.
This keynote fireside chat approaches scale not as a neutral analytic category but as a social and political process. It examines how scales are produced, stabilized, and contested through institutional practices and methodological choices, and how this practice shapes what counts as knowledge and whose perspectives circulate.
The talk, which is based around a series of “fireside” questions, will explore time and spatial scales, scaling solutions and methodologies, the frictions and exclusions generated by scalar logics, and the methodological and ethical stakes of working across scales.
Speakers:
Michael Lempert is a linguistic and cultural anthropologist from the University of Michigan who researches social interaction and communication and the history and politics of scale. He has written widely on the theme of scale, including (with E. Summerson Carr) Scale: Discourse and Dimensions of Social Life (2016) and From Small Talk to Microaggression: A History of Scale (2024).
Karen Seto is the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at the Yale School of the Environment. She is one of the world’s leading experts on urbanization and its effects on the planet, with a focus on time and spatial scales, as well as scaling solutions and methodologies. Her book, City Unseen, co-authored with Meredith Reba (YSE MEM ’14), uses satellite imagery to show how cities shape landscapes and how landscapes shape cities.
A public lecture from the department of Anthropology and Archaeology and the INFRACURSIONS project
