#POLLEN24 – Call for papers on “Political ecologies of change: Degrowth as transformation”

POLLEN24 in Lund invites abstracts for papers that address issues around sustainability, political ecology of change, and degrowth. More information about this CfP, including its rationale, deadline, and contacts below.…

POLLEN24 in Lund invites abstracts for papers that address issues around sustainability, political ecology of change, and degrowth. More information about this CfP, including its rationale, deadline, and contacts below.

Call for Papers – Degrowth Stream

POLLEN24 – 10-12 June 2024, Lund- Sweden

The degrowth scholarship presents a compelling case for a comprehensive transformation that extends beyond the conventional growth-oriented economic model. This transformation is envisioned as a means to attain both social justice and ecological sustainability, with the fundamental belief that these values are intrinsically intertwined, necessitating holistic and integrated strategies (Chertkovskaya 2022).

At the heart of the degrowth movement lies a widely cited definition that characterizes sustainable degrowth as an equitable reduction in both production and consumption. This, it argues, should result in an improvement in human well-being and ecological conditions, on both local and global scales, and in the short term and long term (Schneider 2010).

Increasingly, authoritative assessments highlight degrowth as a transformative pathway that holds great potential. The values assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 2022) identifies degrowth as one of the recommended avenues to achieve a just and sustainable future. In their assessment, degrowth is defined as a strategic approach that curtails society’s material throughput while safeguarding human well-being through the equitable distribution of material wealth, rather than the relentless pursuit of economic growth.

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. Submitted abstracts could be focused on one of the following topics – but we welcome other ideas as well:

  • Interactions of political ecology with ecological problems that arise as a consequence of growth economies;
  • Empirical work and examples of anti-capitalist experiences between the global North and South;
  • Alternative economies outside of capitalist economy;
  • Alternative politics and political imaginaries outside of capitalist economy including state politics;
  • Ecosocialism, ecofeminism and ecological economics perspectives as well as sustainability science on degrowth;
  • Potential coalitions between degrowth and environmental movements;
  • Degrowth representations in public media and in scientific assessments;
  • What, if anything, is new in the current discussion on degrowth from previous research on scaling transitions and change.

Abstracts should be around 200 words and should be submitted by email, by 5 December 2023 to Mine Islar (mine.islar@lucsus.lu.se) and Lina Lefstad (lina.lefstad@lucsus.lu.se)

You can also access this CfP here.

References

Chertkovskaya, E., 2022, Degrowth & Strategy: How to bring about social-ecological transformation. Barlow, N., Regen, L., Cadiou, N., Chertkovskaya, E., Hollweg, M., Plank, C., Schulken, M. & Wolf, V. (eds.). MayFly, p. 56-71

IPBES (2022). Summary for Policymakers of the Methodological Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Pascual, U., Balvanera, P., Christie, M., Baptiste, B., González-Jiménez, D., Anderson, C.B., Athayde, S., Barton, D.N., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Jacobs, S., Kelemen, E., Kumar, R., Lazos, E., Martin, A., Mwampamba, T.H., Nakangu, B., O’Farrell, P., Raymond, C.M., Subramanian, S.M., Termansen, M., Van Noordwijk, M., and Vatn, A. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6522392

IPCC, 2022: Summary for Policymakers [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, A. Reisinger, R. Slade, R. Fradera, M. Pathak, A. Al Khourdajie, M. Belkacemi, R. van Diemen, A. Hasija, G. Lisboa, S. Luz, J. Malley, D. McCollum, S. Some, P. Vyas, (eds.)]. In: Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, R. Slade, A. Al Khourdajie, R. van Diemen, D. McCollum, M. Pathak, S. Some, P. Vyas, R. Fradera, M. Belkacemi, A. Hasija, G. Lisboa, S. Luz, J. Malley, (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA. doi: 10.1017/9781009157926.001.

Jackson, T. 2017. Prosperity without Growth. Routledge.

Koch, M. 2020. The state in the transformation to a sustainable postgrowth economy, Environmental Politics, 29:1, 115-133, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2019.1684738

Paulson, S., (2017) “Degrowth: culture, power and change”, Journal of Political Ecology 24(1), 425-448. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/v24i1.20882

Parrique, T. 2019. The politcal economy of degrowth. Economics and finance. [doctoral dissertation] Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France, and Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), Stockholm University, Sweden. https://theses.hal.science/tel-02499463/document

Schneider, F. Kallis, G. and Martinez-Alier, J. 2010. Crisis or opportunity? Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Introduction to this special issue, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 18, Issue 6