Workshop on November 4^th until 6^th 2026, Frankfurt/Main (Germany)

Wine cultivation, production, and consumption are deeply entangled with key ecological, economic, and cultural challenges of our time. Climate change is strongly affecting long-established wine regions and at the same time pushing the frontiers of wine cultivation. A fundamental shift in wine consumption practices – most notably the general decline in alcohol consumption – has led to recurring global overproduction crisis and financial strain for many wineries. At the same time, emerging market trends– such as growing environmental awareness and the rising demand for the biological, biodynamic and natural wine market – lead to fundamental changes in the global wine industry. From a social/cultural science and humanities perspective wine has long served as a compelling empirical entry point that provides avenues for discussing issues such as conspicuous consumption and production, class positioning, valuation (struggles), labor relations or, more recently, more-than-human (economic) relations.

During this workshop, we aim to discuss these developments based on current theoretical approaches in human geography, sociology, philosophy, history, anthropology, cultural studies, and others.

Registration will be opend after acceptance notifications of submitted papers have been distributed.

Marc Daferner (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)
Robert Pütz (Goethe-University Frankfurt)
Gerhard Rainer (University of Passau)
Christian Steiner (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

Contact:
Working Group on Human Geography
c/o Marc Daferner and Christian Steiner
Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Ostenstrasse 18
85072 Eichstätt
Germany

wine-place-space(at)ku.de