Energy and Environmental Justice: A Multidisciplinary Workshop
ICTA-UAB will host an international group of leading scholars and activists for this workshop on 21-22 October, applying insights from Environmental Justice to better identify and counteract energy-related inequalities.
Contributions include case studies from North, Central and South America, Africa, Europe, and South Asia — exploring how energy shapes and interacts with politics, ecology, and movements for social change.
The workshop will host 16 papers across five panels; two keynote lectures; three invited speakers; ethnographic film; and contributions from Barcelona-based energy poverty activists. The organising team — Tristan Partridge and Sofía Avila, both at ICTA-UAB — invited submissions that explore decolonial, emancipatory, and transformative approaches to energy and justice, as well as work that engages with community responses to imposed social and environmental change. Recognising the importance of direct action, particularly around sites of resource extraction and extractivism, the team also invited work on collective action strategies and related issues of sovereignty, intersectionality, and responsibility. The workshop has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the “María de Maeztu” program for Units of Excellence (MDM-2015-0552).
In an effort to reduce flying and to decarbonize academic meetings, the workshop will facilitate remote participation for 10 of the 24 listed participants, supported by live-streaming, AV installations, and videoconferencing. Invited participants include Dana Powell (Appalachian State University); Dustin Mulvaney (San Jose State University); David Pellow and Javiera Barandiaran (University of California, Santa Barbara); and ICTA-based members of the EJAtlas.
The expansion and modification of energy systems are inextricably linked to justice concerns and climate change. Much ‘energy justice’ literature, however, glosses over its relation with Environmental Justice research and practice. This workshop aims to centre EJ scholarship and activism within multidisciplinary energy research — studying energy issues in relation to systemic marginalisation, the uneven socioecological impacts of different modes of production, and disparities in the recognition of diverse voices and livelihoods. The workshop will be an opportunity for participants to further develop collaborative, critical energy research and to map new strategies for confronting energy- and climate-related injustices.