This one year Research Associate role arises from the award of a major grant (£859,000) from the UK Economic and Social Research Council to Professor Rosaleen Duffy and Professor Charlotte Burns. The project, BEaStly Business: Examining the Illegal Trade in Bears, Eels and Songbirds, involves working closely with a bigger research team comprised of Professors Duffy and Burns, two other post-doctoral researchers and a project manager. In this post the successful candidate will examine the political ecologies of illegal wildlife trade in European eels, Europe’s largest wildlife crime.
The main objective of this research project is to analyse and explain the drivers of the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in European species, to shape and transform policies tackling this major threat to biodiversity. IWT is a policy priority for global institutions, donors and NGOs. However, policy and academic foci have tended to fall upon charismatic species in Africa and Asia; illegal trades in European species have been overlooked even though Europe is an important site of production, consumption, and transit. This project directly addresses this gap in knowledge using approaches from political ecology and green criminology.
This research will focus on the political ecologies of green-collar crime in the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) of European eels; the researcher will be engaged in work that results in theoretical development and methodological innovation, and will produce policy-relevant information for key stakeholders (such as Governments, International Organisations and NGOs); the aim is to formulate more effective policies that recognise more fully the roles of legitimate businesses/corporate crime in IWT. The research will involve an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of illegal trade in eels. These themes will be explored by fieldwork in case study countries – precise locations and timings will be agreed with the successful candidate. The grant provides generous financial support for fieldwork, conference attendance and knowledge exchange activities.
Using the online application system, please submit:
A CV
A covering letter on how you meet the post criteria
A one A4 page research proposal detailing intellectual approach, research methods and empirical focus (where relevant – theoretical proposals are welcome). More information on how to apply for post reference UOS032940 is here
Closing Date is 26 May 2022
Please feel free to contact Rosaleen to discuss the post r.v.duffy (at) sheffield.ac.uk
Will your POLLEN node become the next host for the POLLEN Secretariat?
We are inviting expressions of interest to host the POLLEN Secretariat, commencing in Quarter 3 of 2022. As secretariat host, your node will be the epicentre of this fantastic networks of scholars and practitioners. Speaking from our experience, the hosts gain a birds-eye view of political ecology research as well as amazing networks and a chance to elevate themes and regions of interest. For instance, we have especially tried to profile the work of nodes in the Asia-Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.
Send your expressions of interest to politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com. The role involves looking after: the POLLEN website, blog posts, the twitter account, and monthly newsletters. There is also scope to go beyond this, depending on your interests. Please send your expressions of interest or any questions to the same email address.
As usual, this month we are delighted to feature the great work of another POLLEN node, the Institute for Social-Ecological Research in Frankfurt. If your node is keen to share your work in upcoming newsletters, please write to us at politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com.
We are pleased to post the latest publications, CfPs and more from our lively community. We also welcome proposals for blog posts on the POLLEN blog – please contact us at the same email address with any ideas!
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 our node at the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) in Frankfurt.
We are a group of social scientists from different disciplinary backgrounds (environmental planning, human geography, sociology, and political science) working on water issues and land use management in different countries, e.g., Germany, Namibia, Spain, and Vietnam to name a few. We are working with concepts and methods from Social Ecology as well as Political Ecology. A transdisciplinary approach is key for our studies. We are all based in Frankfurt, Germany.
ISOE is one of the leading independent institutes for sustainability research in Germany. For more than 30 years, ISOE works at the intersection of social science, ecological studies and engineering to find sustainable solutions to concrete problems such as water shortage, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and land degradation. Social Ecology as the science of societal relations with nature provides the theoretical basis for our research.
Node members
Dr. Markus Rauchecker Markus Rauchecker has been a research scientist at ISOE since August 2020 and works in the research unit Water Resources and Land Use. His research focuses on environmental governance and environmental conflicts between stakeholders with regard to the subject areas (transgenic) agriculture, land use and biodiversity. He works on different countries (Argentina, Colombia, Germany, Jordan, and Namibia). His analyses are based on concepts of policy analysis, political geography and political ecology. He received his doctorate in political science from the Free University of Berlin on conflicts over pesticide use in transgenic agriculture in Argentina. Prior to that, he studied political science, geography and history at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg and at the Free University of Berlin.
Dr. Johanna Kramm Johanna Kramm is a research scientist at ISOE in the research unit Water Resources and Land Use. Together with Carolin Völker, she has been leading the SÖF junior research group PlastX since April 2016. She studied geography, political science and sociology at the University of Bonn and at the University of Bristol and received her PhD from the Department of Geography at the University of Bonn. She works on risk perception and communication of environmental risks such as microplastics, governance of marine litter and waste in the global south, and practices in the consumer and throwaway society.
Heide Kerber Heide Kerber is a research fellow at ISOE in the research unit Water Infrastructure and Risk Analyses since 2012. She studied Geography, Political Science and Public law at Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg. Her current research focus is on marine litter governance and plastic waste issues in Asia. Her qualitative research is informed by Social Ecology, Political Ecology and concepts in human geography. Before she worked on risk perceptions of pharmaceutical residues in freshwater environments and societal dimensions in water infrastructure transformation. Throughout all projects, she has been engaged in transdisciplinary stakeholder participation processes.
Dr. Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky is a research fellow at ISOE in the research unit Water Resources and Land Use, which she joined in January 2018. She is co-lead of the junior research group ‘regulate – regulation of groundwater in telecoupled social-ecological systems’. In her research on water governance and adaptation to climate change, she is interested in linking political ecology and transdisciplinary perspectives. She received her PhD jointly from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and King’s College London. In her PhD thesis and as research assistant at the Institute of Geography at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, she investigated institutions and inequalities in access to water and adaptation to flooding in Accra (Ghana). She studied environmental planning and sustainable development in Munich, Morelia (Mexico) and London.
David Kuhn David Kuhn is a research scientist at ISOE and works in the research unit Water Resources and Land Use. He is also a PhD student in the junior research group regulate. In his research he focuses on conflicts, power relations and inequalities in the use and regulation of groundwater. After studying political science (B.A.) at the Free University of Berlin with a focus on political theory, gender studies and conflict research, he completed the interdisciplinary Master’s program in Sustainable Development (M.Sc.) at the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) with a focus on the governance of social-ecological systems. In his master thesis he investigated success factors for transdisciplinary knowledge production in water reuse. At the inter 3 Institute for Resource Management in Berlin, David Kuhn contributed to a practice book on transdisciplinary innovation management.
Nemadire, S., and Loopmans, M. 2020. Displacement, memories and struggle: The case of Mapari Ranch in Zimbabwe. In Linehan, D. Clark, I. D. and Xie, P. F. (eds.), Colonialism, tourism and place: Global transformations in tourist destinations. Edward Elgar Publishing. <https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789908190.00017>.
Apostolopoulou, E., Bormpoudakis, D., Chatzipavlidis, A., Cortés Vázquez, J., Florea, I., Gearey, M., Levy, J., Loginova, J., Ordner, J., Partridge, T., Pizarro, A., Rhoades, H., Symons, K., Veríssimo, C., and Wahby, N., 2022. ‘Radical social innovations and the spatialities of grassroots activism: navigating pathways for tackling inequality and reinventing the commons’, Journal of Political Ecology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp.144–188. <https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.2292>.
Espín, M., 2022. ‘Autonomous re-naturalization of cities in a context of degrowth’, Journal of Political Ecology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 75–93.<https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.4820>.
Geschewski, H. & Islar, M., 2022. ‘A political ecology of aviation and development: an analysis of relations of power and justice in the (de)construction of Nepal’s Second International Airport’. Journal of Political Ecology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 51–75. <https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.2304>.
Gomathy, K. N., 2022. ‘Symmetrical, non-sovereign cartography as a means for conservation: insights from a participatory forest mapping exercise’. Journal of Political Ecology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 94–100. <https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.2371>.
Gonda, N., Prado Córdova, J. P., Huybrechs, F., & Van Hecken, G. T. 2022. ’Exploring the Love Triangle of Authoritarianism, Populism, and COVID-19 Through Political Ecology: Time for a Break-Up?’ Frontiers in Human Dynamics, vol. 4. <http://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2022.653990>.
Kerber, H. and Kramm, J. 2022. ‘From laissez-faire to action? Exploring perceptions of plastic pollution and impetus for action. Insights from Phu Quoc Island.’ Marine Policy, vol. 137. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104924>.
Kowasch, M., Batterbury, S.P.J., Bouard, S. and Wadrawane, E.W. 2022. ‘The third independence referendum in New Caledonia – a fallback to colonialism?’ Pacific Geographies, vol. 57, pp. 11-15. <http://doi.org/10.23791/571115>.
Marta, C., Gorostiza, S. and David, S. 2022. ‘Feeding the city and making the revolution: Women and urban agriculture in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).’ Antipode. <https://doi-org/10.1111/anti.12819>.
Nemadire, S. 2022. ‘Researching With Villagers: Applying Transformative and Indigenous Approaches at a Private Wildlife Boundary in Zimbabwe.’ International Journal of Qualitative Methods. <https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221088649>.
Okpanachi, E., Ambe-Uva, T. & Fassih, A. 2022. ‘Energy regime reconfiguration and just transitions in the Global South: Lessons for West Africa from Morocco’s comparative experience.’ Futures, vol. 139. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.102934>.
Pasgaard, M., Kim, S. K., Dawson, N. & Fold, N. 2022. ‘Agrarian modernization through “ideal agricultural subjects”: a lost cause for smallholders in Rwanda?’, Journal of Political Ecology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 100–122. <https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.5012>.
Rauchecker, M. 2022. ‘Transgenic soy as a political crop and a resistance crop in Argentina – The struggle around control and rent appropriation between the state, seed corp’orations and soy farmers.’ Geoforum, vol. 130, pp. 123-135. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.09.002>.
Santos Rocha da Silva, M. & Correia, J. E., 2022. ‘A political ecology of jurisdictional REDD+: investigating social-environmentalism, climate change mitigation, and environmental (in)justice in the Brazilian Amazon’, Journal of Political Ecology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 123–142. <https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.4713>.
Vojno, N., Horst, R., Hussein, H., Nolden, T., Badawy, A., Goubert, A., Sharipova, B., Pedrero, F., Peters, S., and Damkjaer, S. 2022. ‘Beyond barriers: the fluid roles young people adopt in water conflict and cooperation’. Water International. <https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2021.2021481>.
Calls for contribution
1) General Call for Papers – 2023 “Posthumanities as Praxis”
The Journal of Posthumanism is an international multilingual peer-reviewed scholarly journal that promotes innovative work to transverse the fields ranging from social sciences, humanities, and arts to medicine and STEM. In line with the efforts of creating a broad network beyond disciplinary boundaries, the journal seeks to explore what it means to be human in this technologically-saturated, ecologically damaged world, and transcend the traditional conception of the human while encouraging philosophical thinking beyond humanism.
Founded in 2020, Journal of Posthumanism publishes three issues a year, including general and special issues. We currently seek submissions for our 2023 issues. Submission of full-length articles, commentaries, interviews, book reviews, and artistic works may be made online via our online submission portal.
All article-length submissions will be subject to our double-blind peer-review process. All other submissions will be reviewed internally by our editorial board and selected for publication based on their overall fit with the scope and focus of the Journal of Posthumanism and our submission guidelines.
For full consideration, please be aware of the following submission deadlines and the associated publication dates:
· 31 July 2022 → February 2023 issue (Vol. 3, No. 1)
· 30 November 2022 → June 2023 issue (Vol. 3, No, 2)
· 31 March 2023 → October 2023 issue (Vol. 3, No. 3)
Before completing your submission, we ask that you review the author guidelines and make sure your submission adheres to Journal of Posthumanism formatting guidelines.
2) Virtual Special Issue 2022/2023 in Political Geographyon: “The Grabbed Institution: Revisiting the Political Ecology of Resource Corruption”. Please send a proposed title and abstract to David Aled Williams at Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway, at aled.williams@cmi.noby 15 May 2022 for further details. Contributions focused on the Global North/West are particularly welcome.
3) The International Journal of Environmental Epistemology Cosmotheoros is a publication dedicated to disseminating ideas and debates about our way of thinking and inhabiting the world from the peripheries, the uncommon places, and the abysses of thought. Without precisely delimiting the borders between Western and non-Western thought – not only by decision but by recognition of its impossibility – Cosmotheoros seeks, like Foucault’s pendulum, to oscillate through different corners of thought, without this being an obstacle for the recognition of the socio-political conflicts and tensions around the world. Cosmotheoros is one of the few publications specialized in environmental epistemology in Latin America.
We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the second issue of Cosmotheoros. Authors are asked to please follow the submission guidelines available here
The deadline for submissions
Full papers should be submitted to the managing editors for review by 30 June 2022 to the following email: cosmotheoros.editorial@gmail.com
Ecología política y pensamiento crítico latinoamericano: raíces, trayectorias y miradas al futuro Ecuador | 19-21 de octubre de 2022 (salidas de campo 22 de octubre) Página web:www.4congresoecologiapolitica.org Correo electrónico:congreso4.ecologiapolitica@gmail.com | Formato híbrido |
El tema central del Congreso es “Ecología política y pensamiento crítico latinoamericano: raíces, trayectorias y miradas al futuro”.
El congreso mantendrá un formato híbrido, con algunas actividades solamente presenciales y otras solamente virtuales, en virtud de lo inestable aún de los viajes internacionales y de las restricciones de aforos para un evento presencial en Ecuador, bajo los protocolos de Covid-19. Con esta decisión buscamos garantizar la participación de investigadorxs y estudiantes que buscan compartir los resultados de sus investigaciones con la comunidad académica de la ecología política, así como de los y las activistas y personas de comunidades en resistencia que buscan crear redes de apoyo y reconocimiento mutuo.
Modalidades de participación: Presentaciones individuales (virtual), Paneles armados (virtual), Talleres de creación colectiva (presencial), Rodas de diálogo (presencial), Formatos artísticos (presencial).
Inscripciones a todas las modalidades aquí. Plazo de envío de propuestas: 30 de abril, 2022 Plazo de inscripción y pago: 15 de agosto, 2022
Vacancies
Research fellow in human geography, University of Melbourne Location: Parkville Role type: Full time; Fixed-term Faculty: The Faculty of Science Department/School: School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Salary: Level A – $73,669 – $99,964 p.a. plus 17% super
About the Role
This position is for a research fellow for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research funded project: Next generation agricultural extension: social relations for practice change. This position will support the Project Leader, Dr. Brian Cook, to manage and implement a 4-year research for development grant that investigates agricultural extension and agrarian change in North-West Cambodia. The project will offer early career researchers an opportunity to conduct research, publish, and position themselves for an academic career. The research team is diverse in terms of disciplines, backgrounds, and career-stages, which will provide the applicant with ample mentoring and skill-development opportunities. The position should be attractive to social scientists interested in agricultural development, rural development, agrarian change, and human geography. It will provide the applicant with opportunities for theoretical, methodological, and applied contributions to ‘real word’ and pressing challenges associated with rural and agricultural challenges.
Interview and book panel: Understanding the rights of nature
In this book panel, we discuss Mihnea Tănăsescu’s recent book on the rights of nature with specialists in the field. In this thought-provoking book, Mihnea critically assesses the ‘movement’ for rights of ‘nature’, providing various new insights on the presumed connections between nature’s rights and placed based philosophies, the construction of ‘nature’ as a totality, the political implications of recognizing nature’s rights, and the differences and similarities between the various implementations of nature’s rights in the world. After an interview by Eva Bernet Kempers a book panel and a discussion will follow with Dr Laura Burgers, Elin Boyer, Sophia De Vries and Marcel Wissenburg.
Organized by the Ecology and Society Workshop (ECOSOC) of the Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra:
CES | Alta (plus other locations in Coimbra, PT)
Application until 1 MAY 2022
Overview
The Ecology and Society Workshop at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (ECOSOC, CES), with the support of the COST Action “Decolonizing Development” (DECOLDEV), and the H2020-ITN projects “Just transition to the Circular Economy” (JUST2CE); and “Listening to Citizen Voices for a Greener Europe” (PHOENIX), invite applications for the “Pluriverse of Eco-social Justice” Summer School, to be held July 11 to 16 in Coimbra, Portugal.
The Summer School aims to provide co-learning and co-production of knowledge at the intersections of social and ecological issues through a diversity of political-ecological lenses. It builds on the collective experience developed by ECOSOC over the last 10 years with engaged and insurgent research-action on environmental justice and labor environmentalism, the commons, ecofeminism, eco-Marxism, degrowth, alternatives to development, postcolonial/decolonial critique, and emancipatory pedagogies.
The School is created through the ongoing collaborations within ECOSOC, and between its members and other projects and networks, including DECOLDEV, JUST2CE and PHOENIX, as well as social movement and community organizations in Portugal and transnationally. It thus brings together CES researchers with other local and international activists and scholars, to provide nurturing conceptual and practical tools for enacting alternative ecosocial horizons.
The backgrounds of ECOSOC and the associated projects provide the central thematic axis of transformations for more just and ecological worlds, in the context of the climate crisis and the so-called Anthropocene. The mainstream Anthropocene and Climate Change narratives identify a new (geologic) epoch in which the “human species” is the dominant geological force. These narratives have been criticized by scholars and activists who point out that the major changes in the biophysical forces of the planet are due to a particular political-economic system (Capitalism) coupled with its racialized, patriarchal, and colonial logics, in which a particular segment of humanity has caused this crisis. Thus it has been argued that it would be more precise to talk about Racial Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Anthro-Obscene, White Manthropocene, and to emphasize systemic change.
These critical conversations point out the power of narratives, fragmenting the universalist and heteropatriarchal Anthropocene; while suggesting alternative imaginaries such as Just Transitions, New Eco-Social Pacts, Diverse economies, Post-Development, Chultucene, Pluriverse, and Abolitionism.
Application Instructions: Send to ecosoc@ces.uc.pt by May 1, 2022, the following documents, in one single PDF:
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
250 words Description of yourself, your relevant interests and experiences
750 words (max.) Motivation Letter, stating why you wish to participate in this Summer School, what you hope to gain and what you hope to contribute
We are inviting expressions of interest to host the POLLEN Secretariat, commencing in Quarter 3 of 2022. As secretariat host, your node will become the epicentre of this fantastic networks of scholars and practitioners. Speaking from our experience, the hosts gain a birds-eye view of Political Ecology research as well as amazing networks and a chance to elevate themes and regions of interest. For instance, we have especially tried to profile the work of nodes in the Asia-Pacific.
Send your expressions of interest to politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com. The role involves looking after: the POLLEN website, blog posts, the twitter account, and monthly newsletters. There is also scope to go beyond this, depending on your interests. Feel free to ask us questions at the same email address.
This post-doctoral fellowship is for a total duration of one-year (renewable for one year).
The position is open to all Post-doc researchers in social sciences and humanities from India. The CSH is an equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity. Women are especially encouraged to apply.
Prerequisite: Hold a PhD from a leading academic institution. The candidate should have her/his Ph. D. degree at the 1rst September 2022. Be a promising researcher in any discipline of the social sciences and humanities, with a preference for thematic proximity with the research being already conducted at CSH.
Duties/Responsibilities/Qualifications: Ability to initiate research program, to collaborate with CSH scholars and to take responsibility for the organization of seminars. Willingness to seek external research funding and participate in collective research projects. Ability to integrate a French, Indian and international environment. Fluency in English and excellent written and oral skills. Knowledge of South Asian languages should be an advantage. The selected candidate commits to submit at least one article in an academic journal before the end of the first year of his/her contract.
Status and Remuneration: The status is that of a full-time researcher on par with all current full-time researchers at CSH.
The monthly net salary is fixed at 80 000 INR, along with access to CSH research funds.
Application and Selection: The candidates should send a CV (including a detailed list of publications), a brief (maximum 15,000 characters including spaces) research project and one (minimum) or two (maximum) recommendation letter(s) electronically to Neeru Gohar @ neeru[dot]gohar[at]csh-delhi[dot]com and to Amit Arora @ amit[dot]arora[at]csh-delhi[dot]com
Applications must be received by 25th April 2022 (midnight IST).
Pre-selected candidates will be contacted for an interview via video-conference (if abroad) or on the premises (if in Delhi) which will take place on the 30th and 31st May 2022. The result of the selection procedure will be transmitted to the candidates by the 1st June 2022. The position is expected to start from 1st September 2022.
Please note that CSH reserves the right not to fill the position if no candidate is deemed suitable.
This month we are delighted to feature the great work of another POLLEN node, the Division of Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). If your node is keen to share your work in upcoming newsletters, please write to us at politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com.
As always, we are pleased to post the latest publications, CfPs and more from our lively community. We also welcome proposals for blog posts on the POLLEN blog – please contact us at the same email address with any ideas!
Last, we would like to share an important announcement on the change in POLLEN 2022/2023 conference format from the POLLEN2022 Local Organising Committee. Please scroll below.
Announcement: Change in POLLEN 2022/3 conference format
Dear Pollinators.
We, as the POLLEN 2022 Local Organising Committee (LOC) have been pleased to accept session and paper proposals, and inform the approximately 460 participants of their prospective participation in the event. However, we have also had to inform them of an enforced format change for the conference, and would like to take this opportunity to inform the broader network of the same. Members will recall that, as a covid mitigation the conference was moved to a virtual format with verbal assurances of funding from the South African National Conference Bureau. As a reminder this funding was ringfenced for conference delivery by a professional conference organiser partner, African Agenda to deliver an international conference to SANCB standards. This also funded administrative support which the LOC lacks. However, after announcing the shift, the SANCB informed African Agenda that it could not honour the funding in the case of a fully virtual conference. This has precipitated the aforementioned shift in to a dual delivery format.
The first aspect of delivery is to delay the primary conference till the same time in 2023. This will allow us to maintain our funding and deliver the best conference experience we can; in Durban. We hope that tenured staff and those willing and able to travel will join us. We know from advisory collective feedback that many will welcome this change as a chance to reconvene in person, and will allow session and presentation amendments closer to the time. However, we are also acutely aware that there will be attendees who may not be able to travel, or need to present and get feedback on their work this year. We are currently soliciting information from session organisers as to the extent of this group, which may include postgraduate students, members in tenuous employment, or members finalising special issues drawing on conference sessions. We have undertaken to co-organise a series of asynchronous pre-conference workshops with willing POLLEN nodes, to accommodate as many of these individuals and sessions as we are able. Asynchronous delivery will included pre-recorded presentations organised around conference themes, with opportunities for facilitated written discussion, as well as limited live discussion aspects, as appropriate. The content from these sessions will be uploaded to the conference website, and allow engagement by conference participants and the broader POLLEN network and beyond.
We hope that with this two pronged approach for POLLEN2022/3 will be workable compromise to an unforeseen challenge. We also hope the asynchronous conferencing will provide engagement opportunities with conference content for the broader network, as well an learning opportunity for the expanding network in anticipation of similar asynchronous, or distributed events In the future.
Many thanks
Adrian, Shauna and the LOC
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 our node at the Division of Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).
The Division of Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Overview
The Division of Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences engages in multi-disciplinary social science research on issues relating to rural development in the global North and South. We have expertise that spans across the critical social sciences, while also engaging with other fields within the natural sciences and humanities to make sense of rural and agricultural dynamics. With particular strengths in qualitative, participatory, local level, in-depth studies, we draw on a wide variety of methods and theoretical orientations. Our research and teaching engage with justice, knowledge and power in agriculture, forestry, development and environmental politics. Our strength lies in our commitment to probing how development processes unfold through interdisciplinary conceptualisations and participatory methodologies.
Node members
Flora Hajdu Flora Hajdu is an associate professor working on rural development in South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania. Her work looks at power relations and discourses in various local, national and global processes that impact on local level livelihoods in these countries. This includes agricultural development and carbon forestry/restoration projects driven by outside interests as well as impacts of national and donor-funded social cash transfer programmes. She has also engaged with literature on the livelihoods of children and youth, the effects of AIDS on livelihoods and African degradation narratives.
Harry Fischer Harry Fischer is an associate professor, who works on natural resource governance and rural development in India and Nepal. He has active projects on the role of local and subnational democratic politics in shaping adaptive responses to climate risk and change, and on the institutional drivers of joint human and environmental outcomes from forest and landscape restoration.
Klara Fischer Klara Fischer is associate professor and acting subject chair of Rural Development in the global South. Klara specialises on the relations between smallholders’ farming practices and agricultural discourses, policies and technologies targeted at smallholders. Empirically Klara’s research concerns 1) smallholders’ experiences with new biotechnologies, 2) smallholders’ knowledges and practices in crop and livestock farming and the interaction between local and formal knowledge and 3) local livelihood effects of climate compensation technologies and policies. Geographically most of Klara’s research is located in Uganda and South Africa.
Linda Engström Engström’s overall research focus is the politics of development and its impacts on rural populations in East Africa. Trends of privatisation in (rural) development and the frequent gap between development policy versus practice constitute main elements. Her analyses of development policy explore the intersection between how development policy frames problems, how it is enacted, perceived by and impacting rural residents. Engström’s current research focuses on local effects of carbon forestry in East Africa and the (re)distribution and land justice for rural smallholders and herders, following cancelled large-scale agro-investments in Tanzania.
Noémi Gonda Noémi Gonda, researcher at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, holds a PhD from Central European University (Budapest, Vienna). She is currently doing research on justice and conflict resolution in resource management as well as on the linkages between natural resources depletion and authoritarian populist regimes in Nicaragua and Hungary. Previously to becoming a researcher, she worked in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala with smallholder farmers, Indigenous groups, and development organisations. Noémi is interested in exploring how radical social and environmental transformations towards justice and equity can emerge, and the role of scholar-activists in supporting the emergence of such transformations.
Patrik Oskarsson Patrik Oskarsson works as teacher and researcher on resource politics. His present research projects seek pathways to justice for Indian coalfield communities as mining inevitably comes to an end, and the possibilities to tackle environmental pollution via participatory environmental monitoring. His broader research interests include changes to land and resource uses and what these mean to rural populations in the Global South. His analysis of large-scale extractive projects has often explored the intersection of the natural resource base with the way that the politics of knowledge work to frame such problems and shape them into particular, often technical, solutions.
Stephanie Stephanie is a researcher at SLU interested in feminist political ecology, water management, agrarian change, gender and development research and Education for Sustainable Development. She received a four-year Mobility Grant of FORMAS for the project “Revitalizing community-managed irrigation systems in contexts of out-migration in Nepal”. 2014-2017 she was a Postdoctoral Fellow for Gender, Poverty and Institutions at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Nepal, and led studies in inter- and transdisciplinary projects within the CGIAR Program “Water, Land and Ecosystems” in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. She holds a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Cologne, Germany.
PUBLICATIONS
Journal articles
Brock, A., Stephenson, C., Stephens-Griffin, N., and Wyatt, T. 2022. ‘Go home, get a job, and pay some taxes to replace a bit of what you’ve wasted’: Stigma power and solidarity in response to anti-open-cast mining activism in the coalfields of rural county Durham, UK. Sociological Research Online. <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13607804211055486>.
Calvário, R. 2022. ‘The making of peasant subalternity in Portugal: histories of marginalisation and resistance to agrarian modernisation’. The Journal of Peasant Studies. <https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2021.2020256>.
Cattaneo, C., Kallis, G., Demaria, F., Zografos, C., Sekulova, F., D’Alisa, G., Varvarousis, A., and Conde, M. 2022. ‘A degrowth approach to urban mobility options: just, desirable and practical options’. The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability. <https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2022.2025769>.
Chakraborty, R., Sadeepa J., Hirini P.M., Shannon D., Lizzie M., James E., and Pablo G. 2022. ‘Pursuing plurality: Exploring the synergies and challenges of knowledge co-production in multifunctional landscape design’. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. <https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.680587>.
Deutsch, S., and Fletcher, R. 2022. ‘The ‘Bolsonaro bridge’: violence, visibility, and the 2019 Amazon fires’. Environmental Science & Policy, vol. 132, pp. 60-68. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.02.012>.
Fisher, K., Jakobsen, J., and Westengen, O.T., 2022. ‘The political ecology of crops : From seed to state and capital’. Geoforum, vol. 130, pp. 92-95. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.12.011>.
Hamidov, A., Daedlow, K., Webber, H., Hussein, H., Abdurahmanov, I., Dolidudko, A., Seerat, A.Y., Solieva, U., Woldeyohanes, T., and Helming, K., 2022. ‘Operationalizing water-energy-food nexus research for sustainable development in social-ecological systems: an interdisciplinary learning case in Central Asia’. Ecology and Society, vol. 27. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-12891-270112>.
Haverkamp, J. 2021. ‘Where’s the Love? Recentering Indigenous and Feminist Ethics of Care for Engaged Climate Research’. Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 1–15. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/ijcre.v14i2.7782>.
Hung, P.-Y. and Lien, Y.-H. 2022. Maritime borders: A reconsideration of state power and territorialities over the ocean. Progress in Human Geography. <https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325221074698>.
Revista Ambiente e Sociedade (bilingual Portuguese and English), 2021. Applied Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Human Sciences. vol. 24. <https://www.scielo.br/j/asoc/i/2021.v24/>.
Vojno, N., Horst, R., Hussein, H., Nolden, T., Badawy, A., Goubert, A., Sharipova, B., Pedrero, F., Peters, S., and Damkjaer, S., 2022. ‘Beyond barriers: the fluid roles young people adopt in water conflict and cooperation’. Water International. <https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2021.2021481>.
Paul Foley (Memorial University of Newfoundland) and Jennifer Silver (University of Guelph) are excited to be launching a co-edited book project, The Routledge Handbook on Critical Ocean Studies, and are seeking contributors! If you would like more information or be interested in participating, please see: bit.ly/3HLXcj6
Calls for participation
Reframing Water and Climate Resilience – online symposium Organised by the University of Reading and the Institute of Development Studies (Sussex)
Event: May 27th, 2022
This symposium aims to bring together the overlapping conversations around resilience, climate, water, communication and politics in order to advance social justice and reduce climate-induced water vulnerability. Throughout our one-day symposium we will engage with the following questions: How can we put social justice at the core of climate and water resilience practice? How can water and climate resilience be imagined, communicated, represented and visualised differently? And, what can we learn from over a decade of critical resilience research that can help us to confront the water and climate challenges which lie ahead? With this call for contributions, we hope to find scholars, studies and practice-based knowledge which acknowledge that building climate/water resilience is a profoundly socio-political challenge. Moreover, we are looking for interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives on the diverse framing and discourses of resilience promoted by local and global networks of actors.
1. Assistant Professor in European/Latin America: Contemporary Illiberal and Authoritarian Regimes, Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam We seek an Assistant Professor in European and/or Latin American Studies to provide education in a dynamic context with ample opportunities for the development of innovative teaching methods. Your research will be part of the Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES), one of the five research schools of the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research.
The position will be embedded within the Department of History, European Studies and Religious Studies and Hermetica, in the capacity group European Studies or in the capacity group Latin American Studies (CEDLA).
Applications close: 3 Apr 2022 More information, please click here.
2. Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer (Environmental Policy/ Governance; 5-year fixed term contract) at the Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia and the Pacific (CAP), Australian National University
We are seeking a candidate that has a strong passion for teaching, an excellent capacity for collaborative research and outreach, and an entrepreneurial approach to building partnerships and resourcing their research and impact. Expertise in one or more of the following areas will be highly valued: oceans and fisheries, Indigenous environments, urban environments or climate change. Experience in the Asia-Pacific and/or Australia is important, with an emphasis on complementing the group’s existing geographic strengths. Ideas for new course offerings are welcome. Increasing the representation of women and academics from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds is a strategic priority for the Crawford School. We strongly encourage applications from these groups.
Enquiries: please contact Professor John McCarthy T: +61 2 6125 0494 or E: John.McCarthy@anu.edu.au
Applications close: 29 Apr 2022 11:55:00 PM AUS Eastern Standard Time More information, please click here.
3. Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer (Environmental Economics; continuing position) at the Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia and the Pacific (CAP), Australian National University
We are seeking to appoint an outstanding early to mid-career academic to contribute to the School’s research, education and policy impact in the field of environment management and development. The Lecturer/Senior Lecturer will contribute to curriculum renewal and lead courses relevant to the Masters in Environmental Management and Development (MEMDV), the Masters of Climate Change, and that will contribute to other Crawford and ANU teaching programs. Expertise in one or more of the following areas will be highly valued: environmental valuation, cost-benefit analysis, environmental policy choice and design, implementation and evaluation of environmental policy. Applications of environmental economics to fields such as land use, agriculture, biodiversity or climate change are desirable, building on READ’s existing strengths in the economics of water and energy. Experience in Australia and/or the Asia-Pacific region that complements the group’s existing geographical coverage will be valued. Ideas for new course offerings are welcome. Increasing the representation of women and academics from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds is a strategic priority for the Crawford School. We strongly encourage applications from these groups.
Enquiries: please contact Associate Professor Keith Barney T: +61 2 6125 4957 or E: Keith.Barney@anu.edu.au
Applications close: 15 Apr 2022 11:55:00 PM AUS Eastern Standard Time More information, please click here.
The course includes a section on Resource Politics led by Amber Huff, which explores how resources and ‘nature’ are framed and understood, questions in political ecology, crisis, plural stories and pathways, and other issues. The course is open access, and includes six lectures recorded at last year’s virtual STEPS Summer School, along with new Open Access reading lists and suggested questions. STEPS Centre is especially keen to spread the word to those who might want to use the course in their own teaching programmes, or share it with student communities for their own use.
This month we are delighted to feature the great work of another POLLEN node, the Political Ecology and Landscape Governance research group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). If your node is keen to share your work in upcoming newsletters, please write to us at politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com.
As always, we are pleased to post the latest publications, jobs, CfPs and more from our lively community. We also welcome proposals for blog posts on the POLLEN blog – please contact us at the same email address with any ideas! Do check out our latest blog post on “How EU public money finances environmental sacrifice: A call for change” by Alexander Dunlap here.
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 our node at The Political Ecology and Landscape Governance research group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
The Political Ecology and Landscape Governance research group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Overview
The Political Ecology and Landscape Governance research group at NTNU works across this geographical sub-field, with multi-scalar research on power relations, knowledge systems, conservation science and politics, environmental governance, and policy. We have a particular emphasis across our projects on identifying and challenging how parallel debates about the local and the global, materiality and representations, knowledge, power, justice, and democracy can mutually inform both political ecology and critical landscape research.
We are an interdisciplinary team conducting research in countries around the world, including Norway, Tanzania, Ecuador, Indonesia, the United States, and Finland; our networks extend within and beyond these locales. Our group is actively involved in the POLLEN network, the Cultural and Political Ecology specialty group of the American Association of Geographers, and the Nordic Geography community. Our research engages across the Department of Geography’s four strategic areas: Nature, resource management and landscape, Natural hazards and effects of climate change, Globalization, mobility and citizenship; and Innovation and regional changes.
NTNU Node members
Node members
Dr. Elizabeth Barron Dr. Barron’s research interests are broadly on understanding different knowledge systems for addressing human-environment challenges in the areas of conservation and resource management, alternative economics, and sustainability. She worked extensively on social and institutional dimensions of fungal conservation as part of her PhD and postdoctoral work. Her current research is on place-based sustainability theory and practice, where she is developing the concept of emplaced sustainability and the associated emplacement framework. She also serves as the group leader for the Political Ecology and Landscape Governance research group in the department. From 2018-2022 she is a coordinating lead author for the IPBES Assessment on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species.
Professor Karoline Daugstad Karoline Daugstad is professor in social geography with landscape geography as a focus area. Her research interests cover representations of landscape, landscape policies and management, cultural heritage in tourism, mountain farming, protected landscapes, and natural resource management. Perspectives of landscape governance is included in her research. The research has mainly taken place in a Norwegian context, but she has also undertaken studies in mountain communities in Austria and northern Spain.
Dr. Jørund Aasetre Dr. Jørund Aasetre is an Associate Professor at Department of Teacher Education (70%) and Department of Geography (30%), at NTNU. At Geography Aasetre teaches Environmental Geography and co-ordinates their part of the international master program on nature resources management (MSNARM). At Department for Teacher Education, he teaches new geography teachers. As a researcher Aasetre has worked with several issues on nature management in Norway, such as forest recreation and forest history, nature restoration, conservation management, large predators as well as Salomon fjords. In addition, he does research on Environmental Education in Ethiopia and South Sudan in cooperation with PhD candidates.
Professor Gunhild Setten Gunhild Setten is a professor of human geography at NTNU. Her research interests include human-nature relationships, moral geography, environmental practices, plants and alien species, outdoor recreation, social cohesion, and community dynamics. Her research works have been published in journals such as Cultural Geographies, Geoforum, Landscape Research, Geografiska Annaler Series B, Land Use Policy, Gender, Place and Culture, Norwegian Journal of Geography, Environment and Planning A, and International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. Professor Setten has also published with Routledge, Elsevier, Ashgate and Springer. Her professional networks are mainly based in Australia, Sweden and the UK.
Professor Haakon Lein Haakon Lein is a professor in human geography at the department of geography NTNU. His main research interests are related to rural livelihoods and access to natural resources especially water and land/biodiversity. This has mainly been explored based on experiences from fieldwork in communities in Bangladesh, China (Xinjiang) and Tanzania. He is currently involved in research on climate change and environmental risks in highland communities in Norway and East Africa.
Professor Ståle Angen Rye Professor Ståle Angen Rye is a human geographer, and his works focuses on globalization and innovation studies. His teaching and research focus on (i) citizens involvement in natural resource governance and (ii) youth’s participation in urban and societal development. Globalization, transnational relations, and citizenship are all central dimensions. The empirical foundation for his work is Norway and Indonesia, but he also has field experiences from several African countries. In addition to political participation, He has researched international higher education and the use of Internet in transnational knowledge networks.
Dr. Diana Raquel Vela Almeida Diana is a senior researcher in the Department of Geography at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and a member of the Collective of Critical Geography in Ecuador. Diana has written on extractivism and social transformations, resource geography, austerity and political ecology, ecological struggles and territorial defense from feminism, local reproductive economies and a critique of the green capitalism of the new green transition proposals globally. She is currently working on the project “Environmental Policy Instruments across Commodity Chains (EPICC): Comparing multi-level governance for Biodiversity Protection and Climate Action in Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia” to map the governance and power links that connect the multiple territories of production of mineral and food commodities in Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia exported to Europe and their plural legal systems with the European regulatory, political and socio-economic space. Diana also is an associate editor of Uneven Earth media and an International Board member of the Journal of Latin American Geography.
Dr Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel is human geographer with a research interest in topics around political ecology, environmental justice, conservation and development politics and policies, state violence, and the broader discourses of sustainable development. Teklehaymanot has written and published research works on Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. His current research work, among others, focuses on the analysis of the translation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals into urban planning and practice in Norway.
Michael Ogbe Michael Ogbe is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). His PhD is within the fields of Geographic Information Science and Natural Resource Management. Specifically, he is researching Spatial Crowdsourcing and Citizen Participation in the management of Petroleum revenue in Ghana. He has a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development Studies, specializing in Geography from NTNU, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and Resource Development from the University of Ghana, Legon.
Professor Päivi Lujala Päivi Lujala is Professor of Human Geography and Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the University of Oulu, Finland, and Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics, Norway. Her research focuses on two broad topics: management of valuable natural resources in the Global South and adaption to climate (change) related natural hazards. She has led several multidisciplinary projects on the links between primary commodity sector, development, and security, and she has published widely on these topics in top journals. Her current research on climate change focuses on climate migration in the Global South.
Dr. Sabrina Scherzer Sabrina Scherzer has a background in economics and geography and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Geography Research Unit at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her current research focuses on participation and accountability in the management of high-value natural resources and their revenues. During her doctoral research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), she looked into community resilience to natural hazards in Norway. Sabrina also holds two master’s degrees from UK universities, one in Development Finance from the University of Reading and one in International Development from the University of Bath.
Ritah Kigonya Ritah Kigonya is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Geography, NTNU. She has a background in forest sciences. Her research revolves around financial conservation measures including Payments for Ecosystem Services and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. Her PhD study explores the use of biodiversity offsetting to finance protected area management. Her broader topics of interest are neoliberal conservation and natural resource management, especially incentive based conservation, and protected area management.
Dr. Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, consultant at the World Bank, and Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of Gondar. He completed a double Ph.D. in Environmental and Resource Economics at University of Copenhagen and in Forest Sciences at Georg-August University of Göttingen in January 2017. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Copenhagen, Visiting Scholar at the University of South Carolina, and University of California Berkeley. Solomon’s research is on livelihoods, poverty, natural resource management, land transaction, and climate change resettlement.
Chambers, J. M., Massarella, K. and Fletcher, R. 2022. ‘The right to fail? Problematizing failure discourse in international conservation’. World Development. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105723>.
Dunlap, A., and Marin, D. 2022. ‘Comparing coal and ‘transition materials’? Overlooking complexity, flattening reality and ignoring capitalism’. Energy Research & Social Science, Vol. 89, No. 1, pp. 1-9. <https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1eXc9_oMjTCLtc>.
Hamidov, A., Daedlow, K., Webber, H., Hussein, H., Abdurahmanov, I., Dolidudko, A., Seerat, A.Y., Solieva, U., Woldeyohanes, T., and Helming, K., 2022. ‘Operationalizing water-energy-food nexus research for sustainable development in social-ecological systems: an interdisciplinary learning case in Central Asia’. Ecology and Society, Vol. 27. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-12891-270112>.
Kabra, A., and Das, B. 2022, ‘Aye for the tiger: hegemony, authority, and volition in India’s regime of dispossession for conservation’. Oxford Development Studies. <https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2022.2028134>.
Vojno, N., Horst, R., Hussein, H., Nolden, T., Badawy, A., Goubert, A., Sharipova, B., Pedrero, F., Peters, S., and Damkjaer, S., 2022. ‘Beyond barriers: the fluid roles young people adopt in water conflict and cooperation’. Water International. <https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2021.2021481>.
Calls for proposals
The 17th European Association of Social Anthropologists Biennial Conference – EASA2022: Transformation, Hope and the Commons
Organized by the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s University, Belfast
Date: 26-29 July, 2022
The 17th EASA Biennial Conference focuses on the entanglements of transformation, hope and the commons. The global Covid19 pandemic, and societal responses to it, have transformed the societies in which we live and work. Media and political discourses deploy a rhetoric of rupture, facilitating shifts in governance and bio-politics that mask and widen existing inequalities. Instead of the ‘crisis-thinking’ that abstracts current events from broader and historical continuities, we invite anthropologists to make connections through sustained ethnographic and anthropological inquiry.
After Growth: A Symposium on Post-Capitalist Imaginaries
Free: Booking required
After Growth is a symposium, a gathering of bodies and minds, but it is also an invitation to construct another future. At its core is the belief that prosperity does not depend on economic growth, and that – in the face of ongoing climate catastrophe – there is an urgent need to find new ways of living within planetary boundaries.
The concept of ‘degrowth’ emerges from the confluence of activism, ecology and economics, though it also sits within a larger cultural field of creative and artistic practice. Rather than producing blueprints of utopian visions, many of the contributors to this symposium work towards the creation of spaces where post-capitalist forms of life can be incubated.
Taking place both online and in-person, After Growth assembles a diverse array of visions, organisations and initiatives. Together, they will speculate on the possibility of life after growth, placing these at the heart of a city with increasingly green ambitions.
Programmed by Theo Reeves-Evison and Canan Batur. Funded by the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University, and the Leverhulme Trust. This symposium is part of our upcoming research strand Emergency & Emergence, which will be made public in March.
Sat 19 March, 2 – 5.30pm, online
Sun 20 March, 11am – 6pm, The Space at Nottingham Contemporary
1. Research professor at the Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp
The vacancy is for Tenure-Track Research Professor (TTZAPBOF – Assistant Professorship) or Research Professor (ZAPBOF – Associate Professor, Professor or Full Professor). As a member of the Senior Academic Staff (Dutch: Zelfstandig Academisch Personeel, ZAP), you will contribute to the University of Antwerp’s three core tasks: research, services and education. Your role may also include organisational and managerial aspects. As a research professor during a 5-year-period, your role will consist primarily of academic research with some limited involvement in the educational programmes.
2. Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer (Environmental Policy/ Governance; 5-year fixed term contract) at the Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia and the Pacific (CAP), Australian National University
We are seeking a candidate that has a strong passion for teaching, an excellent capacity for collaborative research and outreach, and an entrepreneurial approach to building partnerships and resourcing their research and impact. Expertise in one or more of the following areas will be highly valued: oceans and fisheries, Indigenous environments, urban environments or climate change. Experience in the Asia-Pacific and/or Australia is important, with an emphasis on complementing the group’s existing geographic strengths. Ideas for new course offerings are welcome. Increasing the representation of women and academics from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds is a strategic priority for the Crawford School. We strongly encourage applications from these groups.
Enquiries: please contact Professor John McCarthy T: +61 2 6125 0494 or E: John.McCarthy@anu.edu.au
Applications close: 29 Apr 2022 11:55:00 PM AUS Eastern Standard Time More information, please click here.
3. Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer (Environmental Economics; continuing position) at the Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia and the Pacific (CAP), Australian National University
We are seeking to appoint an outstanding early to mid-career academic to contribute to the School’s research, education and policy impact in the field of environment management and development. The Lecturer/Senior Lecturer will contribute to curriculum renewal and lead courses relevant to the Masters in Environmental Management and Development (MEMDV), the Masters of Climate Change, and that will contribute to other Crawford and ANU teaching programs. Expertise in one or more of the following areas will be highly valued: environmental valuation, cost-benefit analysis, environmental policy choice and design, implementation and evaluation of environmental policy. Applications of environmental economics to fields such as land use, agriculture, biodiversity or climate change are desirable, building on READ’s existing strengths in the economics of water and energy. Experience in Australia and/or the Asia-Pacific region that complements the group’s existing geographical coverage will be valued. Ideas for new course offerings are welcome. Increasing the representation of women and academics from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds is a strategic priority for the Crawford School. We strongly encourage applications from these groups.
Enquiries: please contact Associate Professor Keith Barney T: +61 2 6125 4957 or E: Keith.Barney@anu.edu.au
Applications close: 15 Apr 2022 11:55:00 PM AUS Eastern Standard Time More information, please click here.
Other news items
The II SIMGAT (II Symposium Geography, Environment and Territory) will take place in Belém (state of Pará, Amazon, Brazil) in November this year. The exact dates are yet to be determined. The event is organised by the Brazilian Network of Researchers on Environmental Geography. The event languages will be Portuguese and Spanish, but we will be delighted to welcome participants from all over the world!
Department: Institute of Development Policy (IOB) Regime Full-time
Let’s shape the future – University of Antwerp
The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20 000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow’s world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape.
The Institute of Development Policy (IOB) of the University of Antwerp wants to contribute to a more just and sustainable world through multidisciplinary academic research, education, partnerships and political engagement. More information about the institute and its activities can be found at www.uantwerp.be/iob.
The Institute of Development Policy (IOB) is looking for a full-time (100%) postdoctoral researcher in the field of Development Processes, Actors and Policies
Position
You expand the scientific research and outreach of the Institute in line with one or more of the research lines of the strategy of the IOB research group development processes, actors and policies.
Your teaching duties will be limited to 10%.
You contribute to the internationalization of IOB, strengthening the network of contacts of IOB with development actors at the international level and preferably in the Global South.
You apply for and acquire external funding for a post-doctoral position at IOB by October 2023 at the latest.
Your research adopts a multidisciplinary perspective, includes fieldwork and uses a combination of methods, in accordance with the IOB Research Strategy 2017-2022.
You are a team-player, performing tasks of a public goods nature at the level of the Institute and the University, and society at large.
Profile
You hold a PhD in Development Studies or related social science disciplines (or you will have obtained it by the time you start work).
Your work is preferably interdisciplinary in nature and preferably engages with a mixture of methodological approaches.
You perform qualitatively outstanding academic research, enabling you to qualify for seeking external finance as post-doctoral researcher.
Your publication track record demonstrates your potential to act as a catalyst for interdisciplinary and mixed-methods research, for instance, by means of (co-) authorship of articles or (co-)promotership of projects in the domain.
You obtained your initial higher education degree in a Low or Lower Middle-Income Country (LMIC)”.
You have an excellent knowledge of English. Knowledge of another language is an asset.
Your teaching competences are in line with the University of Antwerp’s educational vision.
You act with attention to quality, integrity, creativity and cooperation.
What we offer
We offer a full-time contract as a postdoctoral researcher for a period of 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023.
Your gross monthly salary is calculated according to the pay scale for a principal research fellow in the contract research staff category (Dutch: Bijzonder Academisch Personeel, BAP).
The planned start date is 1 October 2022.
You will do most of your work at UAntwerp City Campus in a dynamic and stimulating working environment.
Find out more about working at the University of Antwerp here.
Want to apply?
You can apply for this vacancy through the University of Antwerp’s online job application platform up to and including 7 March 2022 (by midnight Brussels time). Click on ‘apply’, complete the online application form and don’t forget to include the following document(s): (1) a motivation letter, (2) your academic CV, (3) a proposal of the contribution you can make to IOB’s agenda of research and outreach activities (approx. 1.000 words). This document must be submitted in English.
The selection committee will review all the applications as soon as possible after the application deadline. As soon as a decision has been made, we will inform you about the next steps in the selection procedure. Please take note of the following date: Monday, March 28 2022 for presentations and selection interviews.
The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.
Discipline: Environmental Social Sciences/Humanities
Duration: 18 months
Location: Lille Catholic University, France
Start date: 1 May 2022 or as negotiated
Salary: 32 000€ per year (gross salary), including public and additional private health insurance, and annual leave entitlement
A postdoctoral researcher is sought for interdisciplinary research (social science and humanities) into environmental/climate justice in rural landscapes in Europe. This 18-months full-time position is for an experienced researcher to join the international project Just-Scapes led by the University of East Anglia (UK). The job will involve working with Professor Brendan Coolsaet at ESPOL, the European School of Political and Social Sciences at Lille Catholic University, France, and with partners in France, the UK and the Czech Republic. Responsibilities will include research design, policy analysis, interviews with local and national policy makers, liaison with academic and non-academic partners, academic writing, and research dissemination. Among other things, the researcher will conduct a critical analysis of environmental/climate related public policies and national debates with regard to rural landscapes, and confront them with the local perceptions and debates collected through the partners’ case studies as well as with insights from the environmental/climate justice literature.
Project details
The project is funded by the European JPI Climate initiative, under its SOLSTICE programme for Enabling Societal Transformation in the Face of Climate Change, and the national funding agencies ANR (France), UKRI (UK), and MSMT (Czech Republic). This project aims to advance our understanding of the concept and practice of “just transformation”. This is a justice-based approach to shaping transformational change that is increasingly advocated by academics, activists, and policymakers, but which has not yet been substantially researched and elaborated. In particular, we address the challenge of transforming rural landscapes in response to climate change. Rural land use is a major contributor to climate change as well as being vulnerable to its effects. There is increasing discussion of land-use change as a critical policy response in rural areas, including large-scale afforestation, expansion of protected areas and reduction of livestock. But such land-use changes can be resisted by rural populations whose livelihoods and identities are linked to the land, leading to what we observe to be a ‘justice barrier’ to transformative change.
We research empirically how those who live and work in European rural landscapes perceive the justices and injustices arising from potential climate-influenced land-use changes. We explore these perceptions using interviews, creative writing workshops as well as online surveys, identifying multiple and competing ideas about justice as well as opportunities for shared visions underpinned by collective norms. We will then build on this justice analysis through transdisciplinary workshops at which participants work collaboratively to produce living justice manifestos for case study landscapes. The research will involve comparative analysis in three European landscapes, one each in the Czech Republic, France, and the United Kingdom.
Job description
The postdoctoral researcher will:
Document and conduct critical analysis of environmental/climate related public policies and national debates with regard to rural landscapes;
Conduct interviews with local and national policy-makers independently as well as part of a team;
Play a full role in overall project design, planning and management, including liaising with partners in the UK, France and the Czech Republic;
Contribute effectively to developing the project research design and methods;
Undertake visits and attend workshops with partners in France, the UK and the Czech Republic, as required;
Contribute to writing academic and other outputs, involving a lead role in some outputs and contributing role in others;
Work independently as well as with colleagues to disseminate findings, including through writing and presenting conference papers.
Person specifications
A PhD or equivalent in a relevant social science or humanities discipline;
Strong interest in and experience of interdisciplinary research on environmental issues; Interest in and knowledge of environmental justice scholarship;
Experience of qualitative and participatory research methods, including critical policy analysis and interviews;
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. French and/or Czech language skills would be a decided plus;
Proven ability to write for peer-reviewed academic publication;
Ability to organise their own time and work, to meet deadlines, and manage competing priorities;
Flexible working and willingness to travel overland for conducting interviews and for meetings in Europe.
Application details
Applications should include a cover letter, a CV, two writing samples as well as the names and contact details of three potential referees that may speak to the candidate’s excellence in research. Applications must be submitted to espol.recrutements@univ-catholille.fr.
Deadline for applications: 6 March 2022. Interviews with shortlisted candidates will be held in March.
We hope that you have started 2022 renewed and well.
This month we are delighted to feature the great work of another POLLEN node, the Urban Ecologies Project at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India. If your node is keen to share your work in upcoming newsletters, please write to us at politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com.
As always, we are pleased to post the latest publications, CfPs and more from our lively community. We also welcome proposals for blog posts on the POLLEN blog – please contact us at the same email address with any ideas! Do check out our latest blog post on “Privatisation and commodification: Ecotourism as capitalist expansion in Sumatra, Indonesia” by Stasja Koot and other colleagues here.
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 our node at the Urban Ecologies Project at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India.
The Urban Ecologies Project at the National Institute of Advanced Studies
Overview
The Urban Ecologies Project is committed to both theoretical advancement and methodological innovation in political ecology, especially in four novel directions. Some of the epistemic centres for Political Ecology, typically in the Global North, have tended to dominate how the political and ecological ought to be studied and parsed. In our work, first we are committed to taking ‘nonhuman lifeworlds seriously, developing methods that combine ethology and ethnography to push for a more ‘ecological’ political ecology. A second commitment is to move from discourse and representation to affect and the politics of knowledge. A third strand, rethinking planetary transformations from India, foregrounds colonial history and post-colonial economy to provide counter-narratives to questions of wildlife in the Anthropocene. Lastly, we are committed to questions of environmental justice in ways that attend to existing practices and the lived experiences of subalterns, drawing on sustained engagement and ethnographic work.
Node members
Anindya “Rana” Sinha Rana, primarily based at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, has previously studied the molecular biochemistry of yeast metabolism, social biology of wasps and the classical genetics of human disease. His principal research, over the last three decades, has been on the behavioural ecology, cognitive ethology, population and behavioural genetics, evolutionary biology and conservation studies of primates. His current research in natural philosophies, animal studies, art heritage and performance studies involve etho-ethnographic explorations of nonhuman synurbisation, human–nonhuman relations and the lived experiences of non/humans, promising unique insights into more-than-human lifeworlds – of the past, today and in the future.
Maan Barua Maan Barua is a social scientist working on the ontologies, economies and politics of the living and material world. His research develops conversations between posthumanist, postcolonial and political economic thought in three arenas: urban ecologies, relations between nature and capitalism, and more recently, the Plantationocene as an alternative analytic for understanding planetary change. Maan is a University Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Cambridge, and an Adjunct Faculty at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore. He is also the Principal Investigator on the ERC Horizon 2020 uEcologies Starting Grant.
Anmol Chowdhury Anmol is currently a doctoral student with the uEcologies project, funded by an ERC Horizon 2020 grant, at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. Their study is trying to understand the lives of rhesus macaques, as they live, across cities in India. Through their work, they are attempting to expand urban political ecology by building conversations between ethnographic and ethological perspectives of thinking about animals. Their other major interests include gender and queer theory, and the geopolitics, folk music and traditional foods of Kashmir.
Ashni Kumar Dhawale Ashni, a doctoral scholar at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, has been documenting the current lifeworlds of a typically rainforest nonhuman primate, the lion-tailed macaque, as it has begun to recently explore and exploit anthropogenic habitats and interact with local human communities. Her attempts to capture the novel, emergent reactions of both macaques and humans, has demanded a repurposing of theory and method in both ethology and political ecology, and an articulation of the socio-political atmospheres that determine and influence the changing dynamics of the synurbisation processes being experienced by nonhuman species in the Anthropocene.
Sayan Banerjee Sayan Banerjee, a doctoral research scholar at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, is examining behavioural and feminist political ecologies of human–elephant interactions in rural, northeastern India. He is deeply interested in human–wildlife relations, interdisciplinary conservation science and socio-ecological studies of Indian forestry. His various projects have documented indigenous hunting in Nagaland state, explored gendered implications of human–elephant interactions, and identified the nature and patterns of community participation in wildlife conservation projects, all in northeastern India.
Shruti Ragavan Shruti Ragavan is a fourth-year doctoral scholar at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore. Her research has been exploring the natures, cultures, and politics of bovines in the cities of Delhi and Guwahati in India. Certain themes that she engages with are bovine ethnographies, writing more-than-human histories of cities, infrastructures, commons, and smellscapes amongst others. Her broader research interests include human–animal relationships in the urban and the impact of planning and design on nonhuman lives.
Shubhangi Srivastava Shubhangi Srivastava is a doctoral research scholar on the ERC-funded Horizon 2020 grant on uEcologies at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore. With a strong interest in nonhuman lives in the urban, her doctoral research, over the past three years, has centred around studying the ecological, political and socio-economic dimensions of human–dog relationships in urban India. She has been using a combination of ethnographic and ethological methods to study human–dog interactions, driven by her motivation to document the establishment of beastly places and the politics surrounding human/nonhuman cohabitation in the Global South.
Sneha Gutgutia Sneha Gutgutia, a doctoral scholar on an ERC-funded Horizon 2020 project on uEcologies at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, has been rethinking urban marginality by examining human–animal relations in informal settlements across India. Her current work focusses on the more-than-human ethnographies of nonhuman animals, primarily pigs, in marginalised human/ nonhuman communities in the urban. Having completed her master’s degree in social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, she has earlier worked as a researcher and activist on issues of conservation and livelihoods at the Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group in Pune.
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).”
Fayed, I., and Cummings, J. (eds.) 2021. Teaching in the Post COVID-19 Era: World education dilemmas, teaching innovations and solutions in the age of crisis. Springer. <Teaching in the Post COVID-19 Era | SpringerLink>.
Bori, P. J., and Gonda, N. 2022, ‘Contradictory populist ecologies: Pro-peasant propaganda and land grabbing in rural Hungary’. Political Geography, <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102583>.
Branch, A., F. Agyei, J. Anai, S. Apecu, A. Bartlett, E. Brownell, M. Caravani, C.J. Cavanagh, S. Fennell, S. Langole, M.B. Mabele, T.H. Mwampamba, M. Njenga, A. Owor, J. Phillips, N. Tiitmamer. 2022. From crisis to context: Reviewing the future of sustainable charcoal in Africa. Energy Research & Social Science 87, <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102457>.
Büscher, B., Stasja, K., and Thakholi, L. 2022. ‘Fossilized conservation, or the unsustainability of saving nature in South Africa’. Environment and Planning E, <https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486211062002>.
Büscher, B. 2021. ‘The dangerous intensifications of surplus alienation, or why platform capitalism challenges the (more-than) human’. Dialogues in Human Geography, <https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206221075710>.
Büscher, B. 2021, in press. ‘The nonhuman turn: critical reflections on alienation, entanglement and nature under capitalism’. Dialogues in Human Geography, <https://doi-org /10.1177/20438206211026200>.
Flood Chávez, D.I., and Niewiadomski, P., 2022. ‘The urban political ecology of fog oases in Lima, Peru’. Geoforum. Vol. 129, pp. 1–12.<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.01.001>.
Jakobsen, J. 2022. ‘Beyond subject-making: Conflicting humanisms, class analysis, and the “dark side” of Gramscian political ecology’. Progress in Human Geography. <https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325211056442>.
Sullivan, S. 2021. ‘Cultural heritage and histories of the Northern Namib: historical and oral history observations for the Draft Management Plan, Skeleton Coast National Park 2021/2022-2030/2031’. Future Pasts Working Paper Series 12. <https://www.futurepasts.net/fpwp12-sullivan-2021>.
Thakholi, L., and Büscher, B. 2022. ‘Conserving Inequality: how private conservation and property developers deepen spatial injustice in South Africa’. Environment and Planning E, <https://doi-org/10.1177/25148486211066388>.
Vega, A., Fraser, J.A., Torres, M., and Loures, R. 2022. ‘Those who live like us: Autodemarcations and the co-becoming of indigenous and beiradeiros on the Upper Tapajós River, Brazilian Amazonia’. Geoforum, Vol. 129, pp. 39–48. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.01.003>.
Weldemichel, T.G. 2021. ‘Making land grabbable: Stealthy dispossessions by conservation in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania’. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, <https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486211052860>.
Calls for proposals
The Journal of Posthumanism welcomes proposals for a special issue on a theme related to posthuman international relations and security (broadly defined).
Special Issues would normally be between 40,000 and 50,000 words, the equivalent of approximately 8 articles of 5000-6000 words, excluding the footnotes and references. We would be amenable to fewer or more articles if remaining within the overall word length, as well as Dossiers that include commentaries and roundtable discussions.
The guest editor/s must ensure that all contributions adhere to the style of the journal (https://journals.tplondon.com/jp/about/submissions) and commit to appropriate peer review of all contributions. This may be coordinated by the guest editor/s or through the journal’s normal (double-blind) peer review system.
The guest editor/s must also ensure that final iterations of all contributions are submitted to the journal no later than May 5, 2023.
Please note that acceptance of a proposal does not guarantee publication of the Special Issue, either in whole or in part.
The special issue proposal should be submitted as a word document to co-editor Dr. Çağdaş Dedeoğlu at posthumanism@tplondon.com by April 15, 2022. A decision will be made within 2 weeks by members of the editorial board, and proposal guest editor/s will be notified by April 29.
Prospective guest editor/s must provide a detailed proposal that includes:
· List of all proposed article titles and authors, along with their institutional affiliation/s,
· 200-300 word abstract of each proposed article,
· Overview outlining the purpose of the special issue, its rationale, and the anticipated contribution to existing literature/debate (up to 1000 words),Short CV of guest editor/s (no more than 3 pages each).
Calls for applications
MA in Political Ecology at Lancaster University
•The only one of its kind in the UK: dedicated to understanding how the environment and politics intersect with issues of power and justice
•You will work with and learn from one of the largest political ecology research groups in the UK
•You will directly engage with both academic and non-academic practitioners of political ecology, including environmental activists and film-makers
•You will take your learning into the ‘real world’ through innovative teaching sessions that move outside the classroom
Brief description:
Interested in challenging the status quo of the environment and its politics?
Come and join us at Lancaster for our recently launched MA in Political Ecology!
We are the only programme of its type in the UK, offering the conceptual tools and practical skills to ask the difficult questions of human-environment relations and drive transformative action. You will be immersed in one of the UK’s largest and dynamic political ecology research groups, which draws upon diverse and interdisciplinary perspectives. These address and analyse critiques, debates and actions related to environmental concerns over local to global scales. Key themes include the politics of resource extraction, water, climate politics and the green economy. We offer novel approaches to our teaching, engaging our students in creative classes that provide tools to understand a complex planet and the challenges of our living with it.
IV Congreso Latinoamericano de Ecología Política (Latin-American Congress on Political Ecology) Ecología política y pensamiento crítico latinoamericano: raíces, trayectorias y miradas al futuro Ecuador | 19-21 de octubre de 2022 (salidas de campo 22 de octubre)
El tema central del Congreso es “Ecología política y pensamiento crítico latinoamericano: raíces, trayectorias y miradas al futuro”. Pueden leer más sobre la convocatoria al congreso, los Ejes temáticos y Líneas de discusión aquí.
El congreso mantendrá un formato híbrido, con algunas actividades solamente presenciales y otras solamente virtuales, en virtud de lo inestable aún de los viajes internacionales y de las restricciones de aforos para un evento presencial en Ecuador, bajo los protocolos de Covid-19. Con esta decisión buscamos garantizar la participación de investigadorxs y estudiantes que buscan compartir los resultados de sus investigaciones con la comunidad académica de la ecología política, así como de los y las activistas y personas de comunidades en resistencia que buscan crear redes de apoyo y reconocimiento mutuo.
Modalidades de participación: Presentaciones individuales (virtual), Paneles armados (virtual), Talleres de creación colectiva (presencial), Rodas de diálogo (presencial), Formatos artísticos (presencial).
Inscripciones a todas las modalidades aquí. Plazo de envío de propuestas: 1 de Marzo, 2022 Plazo de inscripción y pago: 15 de julio, 2022
Vacancies
Campaigner (military and climate change) at the Conflict and Environment Observatory Contract: Until December 2023, Full-time
Position overview Militaries are major polluters but it’s unclear how large their emissions are. Until last year, their emissions had been off the global climate change agenda for 25 years. Now NATO, and the UK, US and some other militaries are pledging reduction targets. The tide has begun to turn but we cannot leave militaries to dictate the pace of change or the level of ambition.
At COP26 in Glasgow we launched military emissions dot org, together with academic partners. Its aim is to communicate the huge gaps in the reporting of military emissions. We also began collaborating with a diverse range of civil society organisations. We now need someone to work with us as we build on this momentum ahead of COP27 and COP28.
The role You will work with our Environmental Policy Officer, Research and Policy Director and academic partners to translate their research on military emissions into accessible advocacy materials. You will develop advocacy campaigns that will align with key events and develop and build a global network of civil society partners and the communication tools to support it.
Application Instructions Send a CV and covering letter in Word or PDF format, with your name as the filename for both documents. We expect your covering letter to clearly outline your suitability for the role, and directly address the requirements of the person specification above. Closing date 18th February, interviews are expected to take place before March 10th.
POLLEN 
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