Conference Tracks

All times are in Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) UTC +3.

This track examines the politics, political economy, political ecology, and world-ecologies of extractivisms, especially in relation to their wider dynamics. In this track we discuss a plethora of different yet interconnected topics. We address issues such as socio-environmental and ecological distribution conflicts, coexistence of cooperation and resistance to mining, as well as the double frontier of mining and neoliberal conservation. We examine the role of extractive governance and challenge the rhetoric and practice of green extractivism and the depoliticization of social and environmental struggle. Papers also include research on the influence of the anti-coal movements on climate change policy, strategies of resistance within transnational fishers movements, and smallholders’ climate-related vulnerabilities. We tackle topics such as carbon dioxide removal, value extraction within the gold mining industry, cosmic mining, as well as the impact of extraction as an issue of socionature. In addition, we look at the legacy of historical colonialism in relation to agro-extractivism and we use a political ecology lens to examine land-use change at the Food-Energy-Water nexus.

Track Chairs: Markus Kröger and Anja Nygren

Parallel Session 1 – Monday, October 25, 15:45 pm - 17:00 pm

Theme: Intersectional dynamics

• Atte Penttilä - Land-Use Change at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus: Political Ecology of the Bladen River Watershed, Belize (University of South Florida).
• Anna Marjaana Heikkinen - Climate Change, Power and Vulnerabilities in the Peruvian Andes (University of Helsinki).
• Marketta Vuola - The Emergence of a ‘Double Frontier’: Overlaps of Mining and Conservation in Madagascar (University of Helsinki).

Discussant: Anja Nygren (University of Helsinki)

Parallel Session 2 – Tuesday, October 26, 10:45 am - 12:00 pm

Theme: Energy

• Naima Kraushaar-Friesen - Examining the hegemony of fossil fuels in the Trudeau government’s discourse on the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project
• Bowen Gu - Unburnable coal and climate justice in China (ICTA-UAB, Autonomous University of Barcelona).

• Inge-Merete Hougaard - Shaping the underground: Carbon dioxide removal and the reproduction of uneven geographies (Lund University).

Discussant: Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen (University of Helsinki)

Parallel Session 3 – Tuesday, October 26, 13:00 pm - 14:15 pm

Theme: Contestations

• Anja Nygren - Sites of sacrifice and stamina: the socionature of oil extraction in Mexico (University of Helsinki)
• Ksenija Hanacek - The Arctic commodity extraction frontier and environmental conflict (ICTA-UAB, Autonomous University of Barcelona).
• Markus Kröger - Extractivisms, Existences and Extinctions: Monoculture Plantations and Amazon Deforestation (University of Helsinki).

Discussant: Alexander Dunlap (University of Oslo) 

Parallel Session 4 – Tuesday, October 26, 14:45 pm - 16:00 pm

Theme: Agrarian & forestry extractivisms

• Sören Köpke - Agro-extractivism and the colonial legacy of the commodity frontier: The case of tea and the British Empire (University of Kassel)
• Jana Holz & Lilian Pungas - Forest for Sale!? ‘Success’ of Extractivist Forestry in Estonia and Finland (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena). 

Discussant: Markus Kröger (University of Helsinki)

Parallel Session 5 – Wednesday, October 27, 11:00 am - 12:15 pm

Theme: Global extractivism

• Joan Martinez-Alier - Circularity, entropy, ecological conflicts and LFFU (Autonomous University of Barcelona).

• Julie Ann de los Reyes - Materiality, value extraction and the ‘nature’ of finance (Kyoto University).

Discussant: Barry Gills (University of Helsinki)

Parallel Session 6 – Wednesday, October 27, 13:15 pm - 14:30 pm

Theme: Mining

• Maija Lassila - Creating a replaceable place: Contestation over the ‘green’ Anglo American Sakatti mine in Arctic Finland (University of Helsinki).
• Sara Moritz - Mining in Sweden - Local visions of the extractivist welfare state (Stockholm University).
• Beril Ocaklı - Taking the discourse seriously: Rational egoism and resistance to mining in Kyrgyzstan (IRI THESys / Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).

Discussant: Markus Kröger (University of Helsinki).

In this thematic track, presentations analyze and examine Indigenous peoples’ struggles, resistance and sovereignty, the interplay of coloniality and modernity, indigenous knowledge, intersectionality, and post-extractivist imaginaries. Papers include research on indigenous knowledge of ecology and sustainability, cosmovision and epistemologies in protecting biological and cultural diversity and producing alternatives. We also look at indigenous struggles for land rights and women’s movements against extractive industries, as well as the interplay of conservation policies and environmental impact assessment practices with indigenous peoples lives. In addition, we let ourselves imagine possible post-extractivist futures inspired by indigenous knowledges and concepts through a discussion of how mining and other forms of natural resource extraction are part of the complex local visions of sustainability. 

Track Chairs: Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen, Eija Ranta, Paola Minoia and Maija Lassila

Parallel Session 1 – Monday, October 25, 15:45 pm - 17:00 pm

Theme: Indigenous onto-epistemologies and cosmovisions

• Eduardo Erazo Acosta - The power of the ancestral philosophy of Alli kawsay (Buen Vivir) in the indigenous movements of Colombia - Ecuador vs. the exclusion by the big mining development, contribution to the Rights of Mother Nature from the global south (University Nariño).
• Anna Varfolomeeva - Industrializing sacred landscapes: indigenous visions of mining and sustainability in Karelia and Buriatia (University of Helsinki).
• Emilka Skrzypek - Impact assessment practice. Evidencing, articulating, and assessing impacts of proposed extractive projects on indigenous territories (University of St Andrews).

Discussants: Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen (University of Helsinki) and Eija Ranta (University of Helsinki). 

Parallel Session 3 – Tuesday, October 26, 13:00 pm - 14:15 pm

Theme: Indigenous resistance to extractivism

• Abosede Omowumi Babatunde - Niger Delta Women Movement and the Trajectories of the struggles for Environment (University of Ilorin, Nigeria).
• Marc Gavalda - Autonomy and territorial ecology in a scenario of Climate Emergency: The Tacana People in the Bolivian Amazon (Autonomous University of Barcelona).
• Arnab Roy Chowdhury - Resisting a Gold Rush: ‘Mnemonic’ Adivasi Struggles against Extractive Capital in Central India (HSE University).
• Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares - Supporting Indigenous and Local Knowledge holders on the frontlines of conflict (University of Helsinki).

Discussants: Paola Minoia (University of Helsinki) and Maija Lassila (University of Helsinki). 

Artistic Intervention - Tuesday, October 26, 16:15 - 17:15

Documentary called ‘Arena’ with Inge-Merete Hougaard (Lund University).

Arena’ is the story of a small afro-descendant village in south-western Colombia that supplies the local and regional construction markets with manually dug sand from the river. 'Arena' follows the villagers as they mobilise and appeal to the government institutions, to defend their livelihoods and their fundamental rights to work, territory, cultural integrity and a dignified life (33 min). Link to trailer: https://youtu.be/cVOsFwW7n2I 

In this thematic track, we examine the tensions and contradictions in urbanism that are central to a post-extractivist agenda. Urban centers have increasingly become nodes for consumption, processing, and extraction. This group provides diverse outlooks on urbanism in the context of extractivism such as an urban ethnographic lifehistorical study of the shadows of success in disaster recovery and systemic the discrimination that recovery policies entail. Papers also include research on petroleum cities that are propped up by specific urban and industrial governance structures, a case study on marginalisation and eviction of an Indigenous community through the interplay of conservation and urbanisation, as well as a study on the weaknesses of Public Private Partnerships in advancing rural development.

Parallel Session 5 - Wednesday, October 27, 11:00 am - 12:15 pm

Chair: Özlem Çelik

• Laleh Derakhti - Contradictions of Transit - Oriented Development (TOD) in Low-income Neighbourhoods; The case study of Rosengard district in Malmo, Sweden
• Marjaana Jauhola - Challenging Extractivist Disaster Recovery Regimes: Living the Aftermath of the 2001 Kachchh Earthquake Recovery in Gujarat, India (University of Helsinki).
• Ng Sourav Singha - Situating “Community” in Conservation: A Case of Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary Eviction (Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati).

Discussant: Harini Nagendra (Azim Premji University, India)

Parallel Session 6 - Wednesday, October 27, 13:40 pm - 14:55 pm

Chair: Franklin Obeng-Odoom

• Alberto Valz Gris - Hinterlands of the Green Transition (Polytechnic University of Turin).
• Ali Almoghazy - Oiling the City: how cities function with a volatile market (University of Helsinki).
• Edmore Mwandiringana - Rural Development at Crossroads? State and the Peasantry in Zimbabwe (China Agriculture University).

Discussant: Cyril Obi (The Social Science Council, USA)

This track examines the expansion of extractivism into the digital world, where our thoughts and actions become the resource in the form of personal data. It explores the extractivist methods of tech firms, the impacts of extractivist modes, and evaluates legislative measures meant to protect people from the intrusions of big tech companies.

Track Chair: Christopher Chagnon

Parallel Session 2 – Tuesday, October 26, 10:45 am - 12:00 pm

• Obaid Amjad - Reassessing the Power of the GDPR in Protecting the Privacy of Online Users (Esade Business School)
• Sunniva Sandbukt - Creating Consumer-Cyborgs: digital platforms as infrastructures for extraction (IT-University of Copenhagen)

In this thematic track, we analyze and examine the diverse practices that shape the transformations needed to build alternative futures in a post-extractive world. In our track we challenge ontological assumptions of nature and society by engaging with Latin American discussions of post-extractivism with ideas of just transition and by adopting posthuman theorizing to understand complex connections that ‘produce’ organizational becoming. We discuss potential ways out of exploitative extractivism by embracing bioremediation and a potential way into a sustainable market economy by organising the economy into a not-for-profit (NFP) market. We describe valuable lessons from a specific case of non-hierarchical organizing and for the “labor as commons” approach, as well as the experiences of forest dialogues between different stakeholders. The topics covered also include a study on strategies enhancing food sovereignty and alternatives futures by family farmers as well as a study that provides tools for critical thinking towards an energy dependable society. We will talk about the full transformative power of feminism to attain global justice, violence against women environmental defenders and how having affective relations with the immediate nature enhances environmental understanding.

Track Chairs: Barry Gills and Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes

Parallel Session 1 – Monday, October 25, 15:45 pm - 17:00 pm 

Theme: Activism, artistic performances and radical transformations

• Zdravka Dimitrova and Elif Berk - Releasing the full transformative power of feminism (Dimitrova: Sofia University/Berk: Jineology Academy).
• Caroline Ledant - People-led digital tools for local development and agroecology (Schola Campesina APS).
• Dalena Tran - Gendered geographies of violence: A multiple case-study analysis of murdered women environmental defenders

Discussant - Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes (Hanken School of Economics)

Parallel Session 2 – Tuesday, October 26, 10:45 am - 12:00 pm

Theme: Extractivisms and their entanglements with alternatives

• Alicia Ng - Two extractivisms, one setting: extractivist entanglements in the bioremediation of contaminated e-waste sites (University of Helsinki).
• Sony R K - Fighting Against Industrial Extractivism: Transformed Subjectivity through Affective Relationship and Immaterial Labour Helps in the Protection of Immediate Nature (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).
• Eeva Houtbeckers - Forest dialogues as an alternative to the deadlock between forest extractivism and protection (Aalto University).

Discussant - Barry Gills (University of Helsinki)

Parallel Session 3 – Tuesday, October 26, 13:00 pm - 14:15 pm

Theme: Transitions to alternatives

• Inna Sukhenko - Solastalgia in Biocitizenship ’s Perspective on Narrating Energy (University of Helsinki/University of Jyväskylä).

Discussant - Riikka Kaukonen Lindholm (University of Helsinki)

This track is a wonderful mix of papers that range from theoretical explorations to concrete cases. Many different types of extractivism are addressed by this group including water, mining, energy production, and forestry. In addition, there are proposals for alternatives to extractivism and the role of technological advance in moving beyond our extractivist paradigm. We look at epistemology and ontology and the enmeshments that underpin the extractivist logic. We tackle the role of affect in the Arctic, examine participatory planning in Mexico, and just energy transition in Africa, among many other exciting topics. We also use different forms of art and creativity to look at the world and the questions surround extractivisms and alternatives, including poetry, filmmaking, and performative actions. Join us for this rich and wide-ranging collection of papers.

Track Chairs: Sophia Hagolani-Albov and Janne Salovaara

Parallel Session 2 – Tuesday, October 26, 10:45 am - 12:00 pm

• Jaxon Waterhouse - Ecological Gyre Theory and Deepwater Horizon: critical enmeshments with liquidity, abjection and the petro-Geist
• Outi Hakkarainen - Towards Transformative Change? – Indigenous and Urban Struggles for Land and Territory in Western Mexico

Discussant - Georgia de Leeuw (Lund University).

Parallel Session 3 – Tuesday, October 26, 13:00 pm - 14:15 pm

• Yanina Kowszyk - Conflict management approaches in the mining sector in Latin America (University of Groningen).
• Mark Cinkevich - Astravets NPP: Energy overproduction as colonizing strategy (The New Centre for Research and Practice).
• Dominika Glogowski - The Mine in Transition? Interaction through the Arts
• Sarah Espinosa - Isn't Exploitation bad enough? On the normative dimension of concepts relating to the use of non-human parties (University of Vienna).

Discussant - Marketta Vuola (University of Helsinki)

Parallel Session 4 – Tuesday, October 26, 14:45 pm - 16:00 pm

• May Aye Naw Thiri - Examining the dynamics of Carbon Emissions in Japan from a Climate Justice perspective (ICTA UAB, Autonomous University of Barcelona).
• Liz Rejane Issberner - The rise of agribusiness to political power: the emergence of environmental neoliberalism in Brazil (Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT)).

Discussant: Christopher Chagnon (University of Helsinki)

Parallel Session 5 – Wednesday, October 27, 11:00 am - 12:15 pm

• Katri Vihma - On the possibilities and preconditions for realising dialogues across epistemological and ontological boundaries (University of Helsinki).
• Hanna Lempinen - Resource affects in Arctic politics  (University of Lapland).
• Jennifer Hinton - Changing the Narrative and Shifting the Institutions: Exploring Concrete Possibilities Beyond Capitalism

Discussant - Teivo Teivainen (University of Helsinki)

Parallel Session 6 – Wednesday, October 27, 13:15 pm - 14:30 pm

• Corinna Casi and Siddharth Jayaprakash - Is 3Dprinting a possible alternative to extractivism? (Casi: University of Helsinki / University of Lapland. Jayaprakash: Aalto University School of Engineering).
• Sohvi Kangasluoma - Making of the Arctic dream - The affective dimension of resources in the Arctic strategies (University of Helsinki).
• Erwin Alejandro - What is the role of participatory territorial planning for recovering the biocultural heritage practices an environment?
• Filipe Calvao - Synthetic nature: Lab-grown gemstones and the future of extraction (Graduate Institute of Geneva (IHEID).

Discussant - Antti Tarvainen (University of Helsinki).

Artistic Intervention - Wednesday, October 27, 16:20 - 17:15

mirko nikolić - water is (non)life: after empire (Linköping University).

water is (non)life: after empire is an ongoing art and research work of social reproduction of water worlds. The performative actions spring from the confluence of Danube and Sava Rivers in the Balkans, and move upstream and downstream, connecting contested sites of extraction, historical commodity frontiers and their contemporary expansions, into a shared history-making. The analysis is situated in the uncertain condition of the ‘semi-periphery’ (Blagojević Hughson) – regions bound in the catching-up with the ‘developed’ world - and its specific manifestations in the so-called transition from socialism into predatory and corrupt turbocapitalism.