We share a CfP on "Political Ecologies of War and Conflict in the Great Lakes Region of Africa" (Dodoma, Tanzania). More information below: Political Ecologies of War and Conflict in…
We share a CfP on “Political Ecologies of War and Conflict in the Great Lakes Region of Africa” (Dodoma, Tanzania). More information below:
Political Ecologies of War and Conflict in the Great Lakes Region of Africa
#POLLEN 24 – Dodoma, Tanzania 10-12 June 2024 (will also aim to organise a parallel session in Lund, Sweden)
Convenors: Dr. Esther Marijnen (Wageningen University and Research), Prof. David Mwambari (KU Leuven), Prof. An Ansoms (Université Catholique de Louvain, UCL)
Scholars in the political ecology network (POLLEN) working in, and on, “Africa”, focus mostly on Southern and Eastern Africa, and also, yet, to a more limited extent West Africa. Overall, Central Africa, and also the Great Lakes Region, has been less central to topical debates in Political Ecology. This is surprising, as the region is experiencing many of the main challenges interrogated by Political Ecology; devastating impact of climate change (drought and fast floods), increasing deforestation in one of the most forested regions in the world, polluting and violent extractive industries, high degrees of biodiversity, and a history of war and conflict that bounds the region together. Its hills, lakes, forests and rivers, are not only connecting people – but also cross-border histories of colonialism, wars and violence.
Yet there are regional differences. While there is a lot of research conducted in Uganda, specifically on forestry and conservation – very few political ecology research focuses upon Burundi or Rwanda. Eastern Congo, on the other hand, is home to a rapidly expanding network of scholars identifying themselves as political ecologists. Yet, these researchers often navigate in francophone research networks, and their work is not frequently picked up in anglophone environment. Moreover, most of the researchers working on war and conflict in the region – often stay within the disciplinary boundaries of political science, conflict, and area studies. Whilst, many of these studies do interact with issues of land and resources, they are not often consulted by political ecologists.
At this POLLEN conference, we want to create a platform for this research – moving across disciplinary boundaries – which will allow the Great Lakes region to become more central to debates in Political Ecology. We are inviting contributions in either English, French or Swahili.
We also have a little bit of funding available for people from the region to attend the conference in Dodoma, Tanzania. Based on the submissions we receive, we will be in touch with applicants that we could assist in attending the conference (travel and accommodation).
List of possible topics (but not exclusive)
– Conservation in violent environments
– Political Ecology of memory
– The conservation-extraction nexus
– Environmental histories of war and conflict in the region
– Forced displacement and the environment
– Environmental change and armed conflict
– Nature-Society relations in times of war
– Western interventions and their (mis)understanding of political ecologies of conflict in the region
– Charcoal trade and military geographies
– Climate change and conflict nexus
– Forestry, colonialism and extraction
– Coloniality of conservation and environmental interventions
– Militarization and the environment
Please send us a 250 word abstract before the 10th of January, 2024. We will submit the panel proposal to POLLEN on the 15th of January. Please send abstracts to; esther.marijnen@wur.nl,david.mwambari@kuleuven.be and an.ansoms@uclouvain.be