November 2023 Update

Dear POLLEN Members and Friends, 

We are pleased to share with you today the latest publications, vacancies, CfP, and much more from our vibrant community.

Before we get to it, we want to remind you if you are organizing a CfP for the POLLEN24 conference and want to share it in our POLLEN Blog, please send us the information, including a link to the CfP to our email: politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com.

If your POLLEN Node has not been introduced by us yet, or if your Node is keen to share its work, vacancy opportunities, or others in our upcoming newsletter, please write to us at politicalecologynetwork@gmail.com.

Enjoy the reading! 

With best regards from your POLLEN Secretariat  

Fabiola Espinoza, Torsten Krause, Mine Islar and Wim Carton  

IMPORTANT! To get the best view of this newsletter, please enable the media content at the top of the e-mail. 

Publications 

Journal articles 

1. Mahalwal, Sonam, and Asmita Kabra. “The Slow Violence of Fortress Conservation Creates Conditions for Socially Unjust ‘Voluntary’ Relocation.” Biological Conservation 286 (October 1, 2023): 110264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110264.
   
   
2. Srivastwa, Amit Kumar, and Asmita Kabra. “Socio-Spatial Infrastructures: Drinking Water Supply and Formation of Unequal Socio-Technological Relations in Rural Southern Bihar.” Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 6, no. 2 (July 30, 2023): 205–36. https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v6i2.990.
   
   
3. Brock, A (2023) A green extractivist railway? Exploring the political ecology of Europe’s largest infrastructure project. Political Ecology 30(1) https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.5637
   
   
4. Johnson, L., Mikulewicz, M., Bigger, P., Chakraborty, R., Cunniff, A., Griffin, P.J., Guermond, V., Lambrou, N., Mills-Novoa, M., Neimark, B. and Nelson, S., 2023. Intervention: The invisible labor of climate change adaptation. Global Environmental Change, 83, p.102769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102769
   
   
5. Andreucci, D., López, G. G., Radhuber, I. M., Conde, M., Voskoboynik, D. M., Farrugia, J. D., & Zografos, C. (2023). The coloniality of green extractivism: Unearthing decarbonisation by dispossession through the case of nickel. Political Geography, 107, 102997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102997

Books

1. Cederlöf, G. (2023). The Low-Carbon Contradiction: Energy Transition, Geopolitics, and the Infrastructural State in Cuba. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520393134/the-low-carbon-contradiction.
   

Events & Announcements 

1. Conference RC21 Conference “The politics and spaces of encounters: advancing dialogues between and within the Global North and the Global South”
    When: July 24-26th, 2024
    Where:  Santiago de Chile
    More info: https://rc21conference2024.coes.cl/

2. 10th International Degrowth Conference “Science, Technology, and Innovation beyond growth: Cultivating collective creativity for a sustainable future”
   When: June 18-21th, 2024
   Where: Galicia, Spain
   More info: https://esee-degrowth2024.uvigo.gal/en/

Vacancies 

1. PhD Position in Sustainability Science – Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS).
   Brief description: The successful candidate will work within LUCSUS’S new, 5-year research project on the prospects of a radical change of the world’s agriculture, from reliance on annual grain crops grown in monocultures to diverse and novel perennial systems as the basis of food production.  The project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant PERENNIAL) and aims to deliver high-quality research along with relevant policy recommendations for such a radical shift over the next couple of decades. A central aspect of the project is the analysis of conditions for farmers to adopt newly domesticated perennial crops and related practices, and thereby breaking out of a dependency on the oligopolic agrochemical and seed industry. The project builds on a strong critical social science tradition but is interdisciplinary in scope.
   More info: https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:678881/
   Deadline: December 12th, 2023

2. PhD Position in (De)colonizing the cosmos: exploring the political ecologies of NewSpace industries at Northumbria University
   Brief description: There’s not much that’s new about NewSpace. The escalating effort to colonize the cosmos with private finance is a continuation of the same religious fervor and nationalist exceptionalism prompting earlier European scrambles for Africa and the Americas (Rubenstein, 2022). There will be no repeat of colonial genocides in space. But the social-technical imaginaries behind NewSpace developments must be contested if they perpetuate indigenous genocide, ecocide, or otherwise destabilize social-ecological systems here on Earth. As part of an ongoing investigation, we seek an intellectually ambitious researcher to help us understand the ways these imaginaries are manifesting in places. Your inductive research in these places will unpick the power asymmetries and inequitable distributions of benefits and risks from NewSpace industries. Candidates are invited to apply for the PhD position at Northumbria University, Newcastle to work under the supervision of Dr Peter Howson, Dr Oliver Hensengerth and Dr Paul Dolan. Our international collaborators include Professor Mary Jane Rubenstein (Wesleyan University, CT), Professor Kelly Richardson (University of Victoria, BC), and Dr Olivier Jutel (Otago University, NZ). Successful applicants will join a thriving intellectual community of scholars and practitioners across two Interdisciplinary Research Themes (IDRTs) at Northumbria: Space and Global Development Futures.
   More info:https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/de-colonising-the-cosmos-exploring-the-political-ecologies-of-newspace-industries-ref-rdf24-ee-ges-howson/?p164453
   Deadline: January 26th, 2024
   
   
3. Two Postdoctoral researchers positions on water governance at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China
   Brief description: Currently, we are seeking 1 or 2 postdoctoral researchers in Political Ecology to conduct research on rural, urban and/or transboundary water governance issues, with a geographical focus on China and/or Southeast Asia. This is a 2-year, full-time appointment offering an annual salary of RMB 300,000 (approximately USD 42,000), in addition to housing subsidies and research grants. The successful candidate should hold a Ph.D. in human geography, sociology, anthropology, political science, public policy, or a related discipline of social sciences. The applicant must have obtained their Ph.D. at the time of enrollment but for no more than three years. Candidates should contact Dr. Raymond Yu Wang via wangy63@sustech.edu.cn and include (1) an updated CV; (2) a statement of interest; (3) a research proposal. Informal enquiries are encouraged and may be made to Professor Linda Hogan at lhogan2@tcd.ie.
   More info: Join us – Raymond Yu Wang – Faculty Profiles – SUSTech
   Deadline:  Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the positions are filled.
   
   
4. PhD Positions at University of Montana’s Land Lab
   Brief description: Drs. Hilary Faxon and Margiana Petersen-Rockney host a joint political ecology lab at the University of Montana in Missoula, MT. UM Land Lab (named after Dr. Nancy Peluso’s lab at UC Berkeley where we both trained) is excited to recruit self-motivated graduate students who are curious about environmental justice, land politics, climate equity, and a host of other critical social science topics that connect to land. Interested students should fill out this form and indicate which of the below opportunities they are interested in: Dr. Faxon is currently recruiting masters and PhD students interested in conducting research on the following topics: 1) Ongoing struggles for Environmental Justice in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, 2) Feminist approaches to agrarian change, 3) The politics and practices of digital technologies for monitoring, managing and marketing land & biodiversity. Students are enrolled at the Franke College of Forestry & Conservation and funded through a combination of independent grants, RA-ships and TA-ships. Dr. Petersen-Rockney is recruiting graduate students for a two-year MS degree beginning in fall, 2024. Grant funding will cover tuition, fees, and a stipend. The students will join research on Hmong agrarian diasporas and climate migrations, water justice and interactions with the criminal justice system, and medical cannabis cultivation practices. Hmong language skills and experience with methods such as interviews and surveys are preferred, but not required. Students will participate in data collection (in CA, MN, and other locations) and analysis, result interpretation, and preparation of materials for publication in different outlets, including peer-reviewed journals and public-facing outlets.
   More info: s://www.umt.edu/environmental-studies/graduate/evst-grad-application-form.php
   Deadline: January 15th, 2024

Calls 

1. Several Calls for Papers for #POLLEN24. Below are the titles, brief descriptions, contacts, and deadlines for submission. More information on the CfP can be found in the news section of the POLLEN blog. Link here:: https://politicalecologynetwork.org/category/news/
   
   – Contested imaginaries? Eclectic pathways of agrarian change. How and where do farmers position themselves in these debates? How do farmers make sense of these contrasting visions? Who owns the control over future production pathways? How to move beyond dogmas and account for and appreciate heterogeneity? We invite papers that interrogate these questions through a critical political ecology lens and address the diversity of actors that are implicated and/or involved in the making of agricultural futures, and with what result: does it trigger a reconfiguration of power relations? We particularly welcome contributions that shed light on heterogeneity beyond polarization, yet also critically question the ways in which local imaginaries are shaped by hegemonic discourses and how various players (state, agribusiness, international organizations) exercise control in this regard. Empirically rich contributions, for instance focusing on contested fields such as modified seeds or precision agriculture, are particularly welcome. Contact: irna.hofman@gmail.com and/or michael.spies@hnee.de Deadline: 12th December.
   
   – Political afterlives of sudden ecological events. The panel builds on ideas explored in the research project Fire and Political Alterity in Amazonia, but invites papers and participants willing to think about fire or other sudden ecological events as political actants that hold the capacity to alter social relations and (political) landscapes. We seek to trace their afterlives through different policy fields such climate change and disaster preparedness, on land use and property rights or supply chain management. We are not only interested in what effects emerge, but also how such political afterlives play out and affect political cultures, create polarization or political alterities within public debates, in relation  private companies, among organizations and institutions also beyond local worlds. Like forest fires, political attention and controversies can flare or die, but sudden ecological events may also generate unintended, fleeting or long-lasting effects. Contact: stine.kroijer@anthro.ku.dk and cari.tusing@uach.cl. Deadline: 10th December.
   
   – Geopolitical Ecology of Extractivist Empire-Making. We invite contributions that build on work across political ecology, political geography, international studies, and cognate disciplines to explore the evolving modes of warfare and technologies of violence tasked with the enforcement of extractivist empire-making. What ecological aftermaths do these modes and technologies generate? What militarised environments spring up in their wake, shaping new forms of geopolitics? We especially want to build on theoretical and empirical papers by those with experience on the front line of green sacrifice zones and those defending environmental and social justice. This can range from studies in extractive zones, such as in Mexico, Germany and the Democratic Republic of Congo, all the way to the boardrooms and bases of Glencore, Northrop Grumman and the British Armed Forces.   Contact: Nico Edwards (ne204@sussex.ac.uk) and Ben Neimark (b.neimark@qmul.ac.uk). Deadline: 8th December
   
   – Participatory Visual Methods. This exhibition and panel will showcase a range of visual participatory methods for investigating and reimagining classic themes in political ecology in both the city and rural areas. Together, these visualizations and the accompanying narratives illustrate the power and diversity of arts-based research methods, as they help analyze ongoing processes, highlight marginalized perspectives, and imagine more equitable and sustainable futures. We are calling for contributions for exhibitions and/or a panel presentation. You are welcome to participate in either of the two or both. Contact: Sofie Mortensen, somo@ifro.ku.dk . Deadline: December 12th.
   
   – Integrating ecology in political ecology research on agriculture. In this panel, we hope to contribute to a fruitful conversation about how to combine ecology with more traditional social science approaches to political ecology within the field of agricultural research. We invite paper submissions that engage theoretically and/or methodologically with ecological research in studies that take a political ecological approach to agriculture and agrarian change, and/or which engage social science and ecology for the purpose of contributing towards the understanding of farming systems and their change (for inspiration you can have a look at some of the papers given in the reference list). Contact: Klara.fischer@slu.se or fabian.botzl@slu.se. Deadline: 7th December.
   
   – Is it time for Global Sustainability Goals for the Global North? Defining a post-2030 Agenda. In this panel in LUND, we will propose and debate a new set of sustainability goals, post 2030, for the global North. We seek collectives, institutes and individuals to propose one goal each, as well as ideas for how we could best network and implement these (media? think tanks? government? an NGO?). You will have ten minutes to pitch your idea and explain why it is an important goal for securing global sustainability. Contact:  Dr Jessica Hope (jch31@st-andrews.ac.uk). Deadline: 15th December.
   
   – Political ecologies of “green” authoritarianism. Recentring democracy in debates on environmental justice. , this panel strives to re-centre the political question of democracy in political ecology by gathering a multiplicity of perspectives to inform visions and theories of democratic futures in ways that are culturally relevant for addressing sustainability; and respectful of the interdependence between humans and non-humans. This requires understanding what more democracy would entail for just environmental politics and low carbon futures, and how historical legacies and ongoing challenges of colonialism, socialism, patriarchy etc. shape different visions and knowledge claims about democracy in environmental justice. In an era of climate change and burgeoning authoritarian regimes, we find that this is a key endeavor. We welcome submissions that focus not only on the linkages between environmental and authoritarian politics but, but also on the actual impacts this co-constitutive relationship has on the ways in which environmental justice and equity is engaged with. Contact:  Noémi Gonda (noemi.gonda@slu.se) and Péter József Bori (bori_peter@phd.ceu.edu). Deadline: 4th December.
   
   – Green transitions as decolonization. This panel will look at green transition, nature restoration and open-ended approaches to nature management and climate mitigation through the lens of decolonization theory. Can such interventions be seen as processes of decolonization? To what extent do they reverse historical colonization processes or colonial ways of thinking about nature? And are existing knowledge hierarchies challenged through collaborative processes and open-ended approaches to nature management? We invite papers that engage constructively and critically with these questions and inquire into the decolonizing potential of climate, biodiversity and nature restoration projects. Papers can explore cases that involve biophysical, infrastructural and landscape changes, challenge knowledge hierarchies, historical narratives and engrained perceptions of change, or that in other ways entail the disruption of legacies of colonial power and colonization processes. Contacts: Inge-Merete Hougaard (imh@anthro.ku.dk). Deadline: 5th December.
   
   – Putting the critique into practice: Political ecologist as change agents in Global/Local wildlife conservation practice. Questions arise whether political ecologists can become effective change agents in species conservation efforts. If yes, through what kinds of pathways? Can political ecology principles and political ecologists independently drive global/local species conservation action? What training, organizational work and collaborations are necessary for putting the political ecology into practice of conservation? What could be the challenges and limitations of such endeavors? With these questions, this call for paper wants to reach out to political ecologists who have worked in the practice of wildlife conservation at the global or local scale to present their ways of working to create effective changes. Contacts: Sayan Banerjee (sayan.workspace@gmail.com). Deadline: 1st December.
   
   –  More-than-Human Mappings: Putting Nonhuman Natures on the Map. This panel seeks to shift map-making towards a more-than-human perspective that recognises the agency, ethics and rights of nonhumans towards more just, lively and convivial spaces of human/nonhuman coexistence. It takes as its focus the city; home to many diverse natures, however many of which often remain hidden, marginalised or vilified. We recognise that such a shift is not without conflict, where new maps must counter traditional perceptions of the city as anthropocentric, neoliberal, individualistic, partitioned and stable (Edwards & Pettersen, 2023). This panel asks; what do map-making practices need to consider in shifting to representing the more-than-human city? Contacts: f.edwards@surrey.ak.uk. December: 10th December.
   
   – Political Ecology of Connectivity and Conservation. Through this panel at POLLEN24 in Dodoma, Tanzania, we aim to bring together researchers and activists who are critically looking at the politics of connectivity conservation for wildlife and pastoralists and its relation to land use for agriculture. With this brief, we are inviting abstracts for papers that speak to the questions listed below and related topic: How is connectivity constructed in mixed-use landscapes? What are the dynamics that come to the fore when setting aside land for corridors? What kind of politics of knowledge production is involved in the definition of connectivity and corridors? What is the historical context of the land around these identified corridors? In what ways does connectivity conservation relate to or go beyond traditional protected area-based conservation? How might connectivity conservation engage with grand visions such 30X30, Half-earth and Nature needs half? What might just connectivity conservation look like?. Contacts:  Ananda Siddhartha (ananda.siddhartha@wur.nl) and Sayan Banerjee (sayan.workspace@gmail.com). Deadline: 1st December.
   
   – Political ecologies of change: Degrowth as transformation. Drawing inspiration from Paulson’s seminal special issue on degrowth and change (2017), we are delighted to extend an invitation for contributions to explore the concept of degrowth as a transformative force. We are seeking research that delves into how degrowth can serve as a catalyst for shifting societal values away from productivist achievements and consumption-based identities. At POLLEN24 in Lund, we hope to bring together the political ecology community working on these topics and create a space for exchange and dialogue on what critical engagement with sustainability, political ecology of change, and degrowth could look like.  With this aim in mind, we are inviting abstracts for papers that address these engagements. Contacts: Mine Islar (mine.islar@lucsus.lu.se) and Lina Lefstad (lina.lefstad@lucsus.lu.se). Deadline: 5th December.
   
   – Political Ecology of Glacierized Environments. Glacier-dependent communities, especially those with Indigenous and local knowledge, play a pivotal role in this narrative. Their insights into glacial behavior, adaptation strategies, and observations of environmental change offer invaluable contributions to the understanding of glacierized regions (Gagne, 2018). These communities, as stewards of these environments, are often on the frontlines of climate change impacts. Their experiences and responses form a central component of the political ecology discourse (Molden et. al, 2021). Moreover, the political ecology of glacierized environments is deeply intertwined with questions of environmental justice. The distribution of benefits and burdens, access to resources, and the ethical dimensions of resource allocation are brought to the forefront. Thus, political ecology serves as a compass for unraveling the intricacies of power structures, conflicts, and cooperation that underpin human interactions with glaciers and the broader implications for society and the environment. At POLLEN24 in Lund, we hope to bring together the political ecology community working on these topics and create a space for exchange and dialogue on what critical engagement with climate change and glacierized environments could look like. Contacts:  Mine Islar (mine.islar@lucsus.lu.se) and Mayank Shah (shahmayankntl@gmail.com). Deadline: 15th December.
   
   –Political ecologies of carbon removal, net zero, and climate delay. Discussions on carbon removal tend to take place in academic, corporate, and policy circles where political ecology insights and political ecologists are, for now, relatively absent. Key questions therefore are: What is actually new here, and what is not? To what extent does the net zero and carbon removal turn in climate politics create a different set of concerns, conditions and obstacles for climate justice and effective mitigation? What can we learn from previous political ecology scholarship on these questions? How does the apparent rescaling of long-standing concerns raise the stakes for critical scholarship? And how can political ecologists critically engage academic and policy circles where net zero and carbon removal ideas and futures are set out? At POLLEN24 in Lund, we hope to bring together the political ecology community working on these topics and create a space for exchange and dialogue on what critical engagement with carbon removal and net zero could (and should) look like. With this aim in mind, we are inviting abstracts for papers that address the emerging political ecologies of carbon removal in its variety of emerging forms. Contacts: Wim Carton (wim.carton@lucsus.lu.se), Jens Friis Lund (jens@ifro.ku.dk) and Kirstine Lund Christiansen (klc@ifro.ku.dk). Deadline: 1st December.
   
   
2. Call for proposal committee of the Dimensions of Political Ecology (DOPE+) Conference
   The University of Kentucky Political Ecology Working Group invites you to contribute to the intellectual vitality and continued success of the conference by submitting an abstract for DOPE+ 2024. This year’s conference theme is ‘Creating From Crisis’. Please take a look at this website link for more information on call for abstracts and the conference in general abstracts for papers that address the emerging political ecologies of carbon removal in its variety of emerging forms.
   Contact: ukpewg@gmail.com.
   Deadline:  December 15th, 20
   
   
3. Call for papers Anthroposcenes in Africa: lived experiences of planetary transformation.Grassroots is a new section of the Journal of Political Ecology dedicated to the publication of short articles on environmental realities at multiple scales. Grassroots is inviting papers that assess: How can grassroots’ experiences and voices be visibilised in global conversations about climate change, the heightened global demand for ‘green’ energy, and low-carbon technologies? They seek contributions that show the importance of gender, class, and locality in adapting to the Anthropocene and shaping its futures. Do historical and contemporary studies of the science-technology-environment nexus hold the potential to contribute to more equitable futures? What can we learn from studying past and present environmental injustices, e.g. conservation, resource extraction, waste, slow violence, and toxicity? How can local lived experiences, knowledge and struggles over sovereignty of natural resources and land inform these global debates?
   Contact: https://grassrootsjpe.org/view/resource.php?resource=3
   Deadline:  For extended abstracts : 31 December 2023; for final paper: 30 April 2024 15th, 2023

Other news items 

1.  Free online PhD Course Rural Development in the Global South, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The course is suitable for PhD students early in their studies who need orientation in this research field. You do not have to have a specific scientific background in order to attend but you need to be admitted to PhD studies. It is a high quality course even if it is online – it only admit 20 students and they are requested to commit to attending lectures, seminars and working on assignments and will receive feedback from course leaders on a course paper. The online format allows students from all over the world to join, and we only have activities at 1-3/4 pm Central European Time so as to maximize global accessibility. Read about the PhD course here: Rural Development in the Global South, (P000059 7.5 ECTS). Apply for the course here. Deadline is 8 December 2023. Successful applicants will be contacted by 15 December.
   
   
2. New post Intervention – “Decolonial Crossroads” by Wangui Kimari. Wangui Kimari reflects on Antipode’s “Decolonial Thinkers from Africa” series, including the interviews with Franklin Obeng-Odoom, Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, and Sylvia Tamale, as well as the Intervention by Patricia Daley. Kimari’s reflexive and embodied reflections on decoloniality offer us a window into the precise meaning of praxis, a commitment that is central to radical geography but too often ignored. In so doing, she parallels Vanessa Agard-Jones, who insists that we always think across scales by placing bodies at the center of our systemic analyses. Link: https://antipodeonline.org/2023/10/27/decolonial-crossroads/
   
   
3. We welcome three new POLLEN NODES: (i) Regional Node POLLEN London, which includes members from Queen Mary, Uni of London, King’s College London, and London School of Economics-members: Alexander Loftus; Paprocki,K, Niranjana Ramesh; Majed Akhter; Archie Davies;Vincent Guermond; Shreya Sinha, and Benjamin Neimark; (ii) Node based at the Center for Social Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)- member: Raymond Yu Wang; (iii) Node based on the University of Montana- members: Margiana Petersen-Rockney and Hilary Faxon.