Please note: the webinar will be in English with simultaneous translation to Spanish available. The scheduled time of the webinar is from 16:00 to 17:00 CEST (Amsterdam time)

"From place-based resistance against extractivism to translocal environmental justice struggles" by Hannah Porada (ESR8)

This seminar will explore the extractive transformations of territories and related resistance struggles across the Netherlands and Guatemala. Departing from a political ecology perspective and empirically grounded in her ongoing PhD research, Hannah Porada will explore the cases of gas extraction in Groningen, The Netherlands, and the mining of construction materials in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. How have extractive industries and their mining interventions transformed these territories? Why and how do affected populations and social movements contest these interventions, resist extractivism and defend their territories? Beyond the place-based perspective on the territorial struggles, Hannah will also reflect on the idea of translocal justice bridges: How can translocal, cross-cultural and multi-scalar bridges be built across the place-based struggles against extractivism in The Netherlands and Guatemala? How can bridging support the territorial defense and resistance movements? What challenges and risk come with the building of translocal justice bridges? What reflections does bridging generate in terms of positionality and ethics? This seminar starts to address these questions and hopes to provide food for future discussion.

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About the speaker

Hannah Porada is currently a PhD researcher based at the Center for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA) at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests relate to critical geography, political ecology, environmental justice, water governance, and social movements struggles against extractivism. Her PhD research explores the impacts of extractive industries, struggles over territory and for environmental justice, and opportunities for and challenges of translocal, cross-cultural, action-research alliance bridge building across the Netherlands (gas extraction) and Guatemala (mining of construction materials). Hannah has previously conducted research in the German brown coal areas close to her own home.

Moderators & discussants

Dr. Jeroen Vos is Associate Professor Water Governance at the Water Resources Management group of Wageningen University. Apart from ongoing research and teaching he co-manages the Riverhood and River Commons projects and is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Water Governance and Water Alternatives.

Guadalupe García Prado is an anthropologist and director of the Extractive Industries Observatory (OIE) in Guatemala. From a multidisciplinary approach, she has conducted research to support local communities in their demands against the state and mining corporations. With the desire to contribute to the democratization of information and knowledge, she strives to address extractivism with an ethical-political commitment from permanent reflection and learning.

Dr. Nienke Busscher is coordinator and researcher at Kennisplatform Leefbaar en Kansrijk Groningen (Knowledge Platform), University of Groningen. The Knowledge Platform gathers and shares knowledge and research that is relevant for social policy in the Groningen gas extraction area.

This seminar is part of the “The Next Wave of Water Governance” Diffused Conference Thematic Seminar series. The series includes bi-weekly seminars on the key topics of water governance investigated by the NEWAVE Early Stage Researchers. You can register for learn more and see the full schedule of the upcoming sessions at this link.