Scholars from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Arizona will present at a mini-conference on Environmental Justice and Cultural Resistance in Africa and Polynesia.
The conference and research are part of a historic partnership between the CNRS and the University of Arizona, which in 2021 established the France-Arizona Institute for Global Grand Challenges, a new international research center focused on the environment, space science, data science and global climate change.
The most important contribution made by this research on Environmental Justice and Cultural Resistance in Africa is to show how culture operates and the vital role cultural resistance plays in moving forward differently, said Phyllis Taoua, Professor of French and principal investigator on the project.
“As our environment is increasingly endangered, literature and popular culture are playing a vital role in raising awareness and shifting the terms of the debate,” she said.
A main objective for the conference will be to allow our two doctoral students to present work from their dissertations funded by the grant: Margaux Vidotto at CNRS and Clara Randimbiarimanana at U of A. The PIs and co-PIs on the grant, Xavier Garnier and Elara Bertho from France, and Taoua and Aurélia Mouzet from the U of A, will also present their current research at the conference, as well as two guests: Maëline Le Lay from CNRS and Richard Watts from the University of Washington.
Presentations will take place daily from Sept. 3 to Sept. 5 in room N604 of the ENR2 building, 1064 E. Lowell St. Excursions to Biosphere 2 and relevant ecological sites in Southern Arizona are scheduled for Sept. 6 and Sept. 7.
The conference is open to the campus community. Conference talks will be in French, with slides in English and Q/A in French and English. Find a full schedule online.
“Many of the environmental crises in Africa today are not of their own making, most derive from extraverted economies of colonial extraction and climate change due to industrial pollution elsewhere,” Taoua said. “Our team has explored how African actors resist environmental injustice through relevant and compelling forms of cultural expression.”
The conference is sponsored by the International Laboratory iGlobes, France-Arizona Institute, Department of French and Italian, College of Humanities, School of Anthropology and Department of Africana Studies.