Delta Studies: 7 Propositions for Arts/Sciences Education

Abstract

Living in a Delta, amidst water, land and air, means living and engaging with complex concerns. To address these concerns the Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab (RASL) has developed an education-and research program for Higher Education in which the (alpha-, beta-, and gamma-) sciences and the arts are combined to engage with with all of the scales, entanglements and complex societal concerns of this Delta-multiple: Delta Studies. Delta Studies can therefore be understood as a companion to the alpha, beta and gamma sciences, as it sets out from and blurs, ‘composes’ (Latour, 2010) and ‘composts’ (Haraway, 2016) with, the sciences and the arts. Delta Studies exists through combining and composing with the skills and knowledges of the arts and the sciences as well as the situated knowledges of societal partners. In this manner, it questions existing hierarchies of ways of knowing and making public(s) in order to create new ways to engage with complex concerns and reimagine our collective futures. This article presents the guiding propositions of Delta Studies.