Dear POLLEN Members and Friends,
This month we are delighted to introduce another POLLEN node – the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol. As always, we are also happy to share the latest publications, CfPs, and more from our lively community. If your node is keen to feature your work in the upcoming newsletters, please write to us at politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com. It’s a great way to share and get dialogue around your work. We also welcome proposals for blog posts on the POLLEN blog – please contact us at the same email address with any ideas!
With regards from your POLLEN Secretariat:
Sango Mahanty | Sarah Milne | Ratchada Arpornsilp
Getting to know your fellow POLLEN members
Each monthly newsletter includes a brief introduction to one of our many POLLEN nodes, to build connections across our community. This month we would like to introduce you to the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol.
University of Bristol’s POLLEN node
Overview
The Political Ecology Research Group is based in the School of Geographical Sciences but aims to bring together academic staff and postgraduate research students from across the University of Bristol with an interest in the knowledge dynamics and power struggles animating contemporary human-environment relations. The group welcomes all those committed to advancing the critical scholarship of the processes by which nonhuman natures are conceptualised, mapped, governed, and reconstituted. Its current members’ interests span diverse issues including climate change, biodiversity conservation, energy cultures and transition, environmental risk, hazards and resilience, and resource making and extraction. The node aims to facilitate exchange and discussion on these and other related topics through lunchtime seminars organised during term time, given by a mix of external guest speakers and internal members of staff.
Node members
Ed Atkins is a lecturer in human geography at the University of Bristol. Ed’s research spans environmental justice, sustainable energy transitions, and citizen engagement in responding to climate and ecological emergencies. He has previously published work on opposition to hydropower in Brazil and retains an interest in how the green credentials of renewable energies are contested. His current work includes research into the role of place-based perspectives in a just energy transition and the political ecologies of digital infrastructure.
Negar Elodie Behzadi is a lecturer in Human Geography and the co-convenor of the Political Ecology group at the University of Bristol. Negar is a feminist political geographer interested in how intersectional forms of exclusion and marginalisation are (re)produced and contested in stressed environments. Her research brings the insights of feminist geography and the sensibilities of an ethnographer to topics related to resource extraction and violence, migration, labour, gender, childhood &youth, and Muslimness in Central Asia (Tajikistan) and France. Negar is also a documentary filmmaker who uses visual, embodied, and arts-based methodologies in the study of marginalization and exclusion.
Molly Bond recently submitted her PhD with the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol. Her academic focus spans emerging and changing practices and understandings of sustainability in agri-food production systems. Her PhD research has explored the recent expansion of ‘lab-grown’ or biosynthetic ‘natural’ products, and the contested and contrasting way in which the innovations are being framed, imagined, understood, and experienced between the industrial biotech promoters and the small-scale farmers, knowers, and growers of the original natural product. She hopes to expand this research into the context of opening up diverse pathways to ‘zero carbon’ agri-food production with an emphasis on the importance of the socio-ecological as opposed to the purely technological underpinnings of future agri-food production agendas and practices.
Lauren Blake is a Lecturer in Human Geography. With a background in anthropology and human geography, she focuses on agri-food systems, with experience predominantly in the UK and Latin America and often working with interdisciplinary teams. Her research examines the interconnections between the health of people, society, animals, and the environment. Employing concepts of agroextractivism, food justice, and geographies of identity, she researches topics ranging from policy, farming practices, agriculture-conservation tensions, activism, malnutrition, precarity, and global development.
Mark Jackson is Senior Lecturer of Postcolonial Geographies in the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol. He teaches postcolonial and decolonial studies, contemporary social theory, and critical geographies of nature and environment. The aim of his current research is to rethink the political and ethical meaning of critique within relational ecologies and under the terms of decoloniality, political ontology, and posthumanism. He edited Coloniality, Ontology, and the Question of the Posthuman (Routledge), is series editor for Routledge Research on Decoloniality and New Postcolonialisms, and is currently writing a monograph called Decolonising Critique.
Jaskiran Kaur Chohan is an interdisciplinary political ecologist. Her research interests focus on food politics from a system and intersectional perspective, including agroecology, alternative farming systems, and rural resistance movements. She has worked and published on sustainable development in Latin America and the UK, the emergence of rural feminist movements, and agroecology transitions. During her PhD she researched the contestation between industrial farming and agroecology in two Zonas de Reserva Campesina, Colombia to understand how rural communities construct sustainable alternatives amidst conflict. She is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Bristol, researching tensions between peasant livelihoods and conservation policies in the mountainous region of Boyacá, Colombia.
Naomi Millner is a senior lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Bristol who explores the knowledge politics surrounding the making and management of global ‘environments’ in the context of changing agendas for sustainability and terrains of conflict. Naomi’s work particularly explores how the technologies and economies of international conservation are becoming a vehicle for the militarisation of conflicted areas – but also how rural communities are using some of the same technologies (e.g., drones) to defend their rights to tenure and alternative visions of environmental futures. In July 2021 she co-organised an international workshop called “Drone Ecologies” that brought together interdisciplinary experts, including political ecologists, to explore how drone technologies are being used in biodiversity conservation, and what their risks and affordances might be.
James Palmer is a lecturer in Environmental Governance based in the School of Geographical Sciences and the co-convenor of the Political Ecology group at the University of Bristol. His research examines resource-making practices associated with new bioenergy economies and infrastructures, the relationships between nonhuman (especially vegetal) natures, labour and value production, and the politics of environmental governance processes relating to carbon dioxide removal and ‘nature-based’ climate solutions.
Adriana Suárez Delucchi is a Geographer specialising in the analysis of environmental management institutions. Her doctoral research from the University of Bristol explored the contributions of feminist sociology ‘Institutional Ethnography’ to the study of community water management in rural Chile. Her analysis maps out concrete avenues to negotiate a more sustainable and just water institution. Her research focuses on natural resource management institutions at different scales (projects, communities, nation state, and transnational discourses and practices). Her aim is to identify, address and challenge the marginalisation of rural and indigenous groups from dominant management arrangements.
Joe Williams is a lecturer in Human Geographer, based in the School of Geographical Sciences. His research aims to understand the changing relationships between the environment and society using theoretical perspectives from political ecology, urban studies, development, and political economy (particularly financialization). His work focuses on the politics of water and energy infrastructure as a lens for critically understanding social and ecological challenges, such as climate change. His current work looks at how infrastructure corridors are changing the geographies of global development. He has a long-standing research interest in the proliferation of seawater desalination as a source of ‘new’ water in diverse contexts around the world, particularly in cities.
Promoting POLLEN collaboration
Do you write with other members of POLLEN?
To gain visibility for collaborations across our network, we invite you to consider adding something along these lines to your acknowledgments:
“This paper represents collaborative work with colleagues in the Political Ecology Network (POLLEN).”
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Bourblanc, M., Bouleau, G., & Deuffic, P. 2021, ‘The role of expert reporting in binding together policy problem and solution definition processes’, in P. Zittoun, F. Fischer, & N. Zahariadis (eds.), The political formulation of policy solutions, Bristol: Bristol Policy Press, pp. 73-91.
Carter, ED., & Moseley, WG. 2021. ‘COVID-19 and the Political Ecology of Global Food and Health Systems’, in G.J. Andrews, V.A. Crooks, J.R. Pearce, & J.P. Messina (eds.), COVID-19 and similar futures: Global perspectives on health geography. Berlin: Springer, pp. 39-45.
Farrelly, T., Taffel, S., & Shaw, I. (eds.). 2021. Plastic legacies: pollution, persistence, and politics. AU Press, <https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771993272.01>.
Moseley, W.G. 2021. “Political agronomy 101: An introduction to the political ecology of industrial cropping systems’, in A. Gasparatos & A. Abubakari (eds.), The Political Ecology of Industrial Crops, London: Earthscan/Routledge, pp. 25-44.
Blogs
Lai, J. Y. 2021, ‘Engaging migrants in natural resource management: Lessons from Indonesia’, Land Portal, 15 July, <https://landportal.org/blog-post/2021/07/engaging-migrants-natural-resource-management-lessons-indonesia>.
Morrison, R. 2021, ‘Ecological economic growth: reversing climate change’, Wall Street International Magazine, 1 July, <https://wsimag.com/economy-and-politics/ 66241-ecological-economic-growth-reversing-climate-change>.
Setyowati, A. 2021, ‘Is carbon neutrality possible for coal addicted Indonesia?’, Channel News Asia, 23 July, <https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/indonesia-coal-pln-carbon-net-zero-renewable-climate-change-15269506>.
Journal articles
Bluwstein, J. 2021, ‘Colonizing landscapes/landscaping colonies: from a global history of landscapism to the contemporary landscape approach in nature conservation’, Journal of Political Ecology, <https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.2850>.
Bluwstein, J. 2021, ‘Transformation is not a metaphor’, Political Geography.
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102450>.
Büscher, B. 2021, ‘The nonhuman turn: critical reflections on alienation, entanglement and nature under capitalism’, Dialogues in Human Geography,<https://brambuscher.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/bucc88scher-nonhuman-turn-final-2021.pdf>
Dunlap, A. 2021, ‘Review: A Case for Degrowth’, Interface: A Journal for and about Social Movements, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 398-402, <https://www.interfacejournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Interface-13-1-reviews-updated.pdf>.
Fent, A., Gibb, C., Ishihara, S., Holler, J., & Moseley, WG. 2021. ‘Confronting the climate crisis: Slow geographies and relational approaches to international research’, Professional Geographer, <https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2021.1915827>.
Nour, SE., Elaydi, H., & Hussein, H. 2021, ‘Thirst revolution: practices of contestation and mobilisation in rural Egypt’, Contemporary Levant,<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20581831.2021.1952003>.
Nygren, A. 2021, ‘Water and power, water’s power: State-making and socionature shaping volatile rivers and riverine people in Mexico’, World Development, vol. 146, <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105615>.
Saxena, A., Dutta, A., Fischer, HW., Saxena, AK., & Jantz, P. 2021, ‘Forest livelihoods and a “green recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights and emerging research priorities from India’, Forest Policy and Economics,<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2021.102550>.
Simon, N., Raubenheimer, K., Urho, N., Unger, S., Azoulay, D., Farrelly, T., Sousa, J. Asselt, H., Carlini, G., Sekomo, C., Schulte, M.L., Busch, P., Wienrich, N., & Weiand, L. 2021, ‘A binding global agreement to address the life cycle of plastics’, Science, vol. 373, no. 6550, pp. 43-47, <https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi9010>.
Staddon, S., Byg, A., Chapman, M., Fish, R., Hague, A. & Horgan, K. 2021, ‘The Value of Listening and Listening for Values in Nature Conservation’, Journal of People and Nature, <https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10232>.
CfPs
Social Innovation Conference
The platform Social Innovation at TU Delft | Technology, Policy and Management are organizing a conference: “Social Innovation: Next steps in the energy transition” on 18-19 November.
This free online conference is open to a wide audience and open for practitioners and scientists around the world. A panel on “Energy Transitions in Asia: Governance, Justice and Social Innovation” is soliciting papers.
Deadline for submission: 8 September
All proposals must be made via the online link form and put note to be included in the panel. Paper presentation should be approximately 15 minutes long, and proposals should consist of a title and abstract of 350 words.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact: A.B.Setyowati@tudelft.nl.
You can find more information about topics, deadlines and registration here: https://lnkd.in/etSB8xW
Special issue:
“A Social Contract of Conservation? Unpacking struggles over legitimacy in Latin America’s protected areas”
On behalf of Debates a Journal of Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), is sharing the most recent Call for Papers. This is a special issue titled “A Social Contract of Conservation? Unpacking struggles over legitimacy in Latin America’s protected areas”, edited by PhD Mattias Borg Rasmussen (University of Copenhagen) and Dr. Deborah Delgado Pugley (PUCP).
Following thematic and contextual focus cover:
• Latin American “natural” territories conservation
• Andean region “natural” territories conservation
• Territorial projects in competition with livelihood and conservation projects
• Power relations and legitimation disputes in conservation projects
• NGOs, State institutions and international organizations interplay
Deadline: 12 September 2021
Publication: 15 December 2021
Submission: revistadebates@pucp.edu.pe
Guideline: https://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/debatesensociologia/normas_autores
Sentientism
Want a philosophy or worldview that’s grounded in reality and has compassion for all sentient beings (mostly humans and other animals)? Then you might find Sentientism interesting. It’s “evidencce, reason and compassion for all sentient beings.” In this podcast, you’ll hear about “what’s real” and “what matter” from a wide range of celebrities, academics, activists, writers and interested lay people. Find out more at https://sentientism.info/ or join the open-to-all, global community groups, like: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism
The podcast is accessible here:
<https://pod.link/1540408008/episode/a1d708c5778ad2906453c8ebeb774829>
Postponement of Conviviality: A nearly carbon-neutral conference
The Conference is co-hosted by Massey University Political Ecology Research Centre (PERC) and Wageningen University Centre for Space, Place, and Society (CSPS). In light of pandemic events taking place around the world and particularly with family, friends, and colleagues in India, the decision has been made to postpone the conference until 4-10 October 2021.
Webinar: Working towards a global plastic pollution treaty: Process and possibilities
This webinar will discuss why a growing number of countries have indicated support for a plastic pollution treaty and what it could look like. Dr. Farrelly is an environmental anthropologist with research expertise in the political ecology of plastic pollution including national, regional, and international plastic pollution policy; product stewardship; waste colonialism; and related social and environmental justice. She is co-founder of the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council and the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance and has been a member of UNEA’s Expert Group and the United Nations Environment Programme’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Marine Litter and Microplastics since 2017.
Presented by: Trisia Farrelly of Massey University
Date/Time: Tuesday, 17 August, 4 pm US EDT/1 pm US PDT/8 pm UTC
Co-sponsors: OCTO (EBM Tools Network, The Skimmer, OpenChannels, MPA News, MarineDebris.info)
Registerhttps://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MOZu21hESkCPBiLlbuy3Lg
[If you are unable to access Zoom, you can view a livestream at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPBHFN-LvAPNqTC6MZmVNVg at the time of the webinar.]
New Namibia research project historicising conservation policy and practice
Sian Sullivan (Bath Spa University, UK), Ute Dieckmann (University of Cologne, Germany), and Selma Lendelvo (University of Namibia) are collaborating on a research project drawing on political ecology (amongst other approaches) to understand changing conservation policy and practice for an iconic conservation area in Namibia. Etosha-Kunene Histories proposes a multivocal and historical analysis that contributes new thinking on colonialism, indigeneity and ‘natural history’ in Namibia. (www.etosha-kunene-histories.net)
It aims to support laws and practice in biodiversity conservation to more fully recognise the diversity of pasts, cultures and natures constituting this internationally valued region. It is funded through a bilateral scheme of the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council and the German Research Foundation, and is supported by Namibia’s National Commission on Research, Science and Technology and Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism.
POLLEN 