Interstices and Engagements: Notes from the Field

Interstices and Engagements: Notes from the Field

A discussion series hosted by the Environmental and Social Justice Action Research Group about the articulations between researchers and research communities at the intersection of activism and academia in the fields of social and environmental justice

Photo: Noemi Gonda, 2014

Fractal Power and Subjectivities

February 23, 2016 at 5:30 pm, Popper Room

Noémi Gonda, Amanda Winter, Ariadne Collins

Moderated by Guntra Aistara

Drawing on research experiences from rural Nicaragua, urban Vancouver and Copenhagen, and the forests of Guyana and Suriname, three Environmental Sciences and Policy doctoral students will reflect on how subjects are constructed and construct themselves in the face of policies, power, and protest, and how groups and individuals negotiate multiple and fragmented subjectivities. Attendees will be invited to discuss questions such as:

• What are the racialized and patriarchal underpinnings of constructions such as ‘environmentalist woman’, ‘culprit smallholder farmer’, or ‘knowledgeable indigenous people’ in climate change politics?

• Are certain groups and forested communities automatically characterized as environmental stewards and protectors?

• How do indigenous/non-indigenous subjectivities influence our environmental justice activism?

PS: Stay tuned for the next event on the intersection of academia and activism: March 8, 5:30 pm, Gellner Room