When: Tuesday, November 22, 2022, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PMWhere: Bancroft: 1.01 , Mile End campus
Speaker: Teresa Sanz, Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB)
This event is organised by the Centre on Labour, Sustainability and Global Production (CLaSP).
The need for materials and energy for the growth of the current economic system creates ecological distribution conflicts worldwide, a term used since 1995 to describe social conflicts borned from unfair access to natural resources and the unjust burdens of pollution. Communities resisting mines, fossil fuels, industries, forest plantations, etc. complain not only about environmental impacts but also about the impacts on their traditional economies, their values, their social and spiritual life, and the violence surrounding these projects. In these conflicts, activists use different creative tools (e.g., muralism, concerts, street performances, dances, digital activism) to express their discontent, denouncements, claims, local values, identities, memories, etc. The key topic which will be discussed during this seminar is how cultural and artistic expressions generate specific socio-spatial transformations in different ecological distribution conflicts. My research so far has focused on artistic activism from local communities in an anti-coal movement in Oakland (CA), a sacrifice zone in Chile, and artistic digital activism against environmental violence in the Philippines.