This Field Station sets out to engage with the ecologic-economic-technological infrastructures between Kentucky and Illinois and will bring a regionally focused lens to the globally entangled Anthropocene condition.

As a central axis through both real and mythic America, the Mississippi designates a particularly heterogeneous space in which the natural, cultural, and historical intersect in a unique way. Located in “confluence territory” where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers meet (in Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky), Confluence Ecologies aims to bring a regionally focused lens to the globally entangled Anthropocene condition. The undertaking of this Field Station is one of intensive engagement with the juxtaposition of opioid addiction and our dependencies on coal and nuclear power, issues of native species loss and invasive replacements, animal labor, and ethical questions about future terraforming and historical geoengineering initiatives.