Book Discussion: Dismantling green colonialism

12 Sep 2024
green colonialism
12 Sep 2024

Environmental Humanities South (EHS), as part of our fortnightly seminar series, is excited to announce a hybrid book discussion featuring co-editor Dr. Hamza Hamouchene and PhD candidate Razaz Bashier who contributed a chapter to the book, with Dr Nobukhosi Ngwenya as a discussant. Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region, co-edited by Hamza Hamouchene and Katie Sandwell, co-published by Pluto Press (2023), is divided into three parts, spanning a total of thirteen chapter contributions to explore green neoliberalism in the Arab world.

The session will take place on the 26 September 2024 at 11 AM, at the University of Cape Town’s Upper Campus (Venue: TBA). Researching climate change and its effects in the Arab world is critical, given colonialism and its afterlives in the region. According to the United Nations Development Programme, “[b]y 2050, climate-related water scarcity could lead to economic losses equivalent to 14 percent of the region’s GDP. Moreover, 45 percent of the total agricultural area in the region is exposed to salinity, soil nutrient depletion, and wind-water erosion.” Additionally, [w]ater availability and agricultural productivity could decline by a further 30 percent by 2050".

Through its interventions, Dismantling Green Colonialism touches on a range of topics related to climate change, capitalist development, and conflict, zoning in on the politics of oil extraction, just energy transitions, and the financialisation and commodification of electricity. As such, the book is a much needed contribution, relevant for the fields of post-colonial studies, energy studies, development studies, political ecology, and environmental humanities.

Please note: At this EHS fortnightly seminar series, the book will be made available to attendees, and in turn, attendees will be encouraged to give donations to Ghassan Abu Sittah Children's Fund. Attendees are encouraged to directly donate to the fund via credit card or through a mobile app. The suggested donation range is 200 to 300 ZAR, with the option to contribute more if attendees wish.

Please join using this Teams link. Below is the Teams ID and login details: 

ID: 334542245710

Passcode: ZihcbU

 

Participant bios

Dr. Hamza Hamouchene

Dr. Hamza Hamouchene is a London-based Algerian researcher-activist, commentator and a founding member of Algeria Solidarity Campaign (ASC), Environmental Justice North Africa (EJNA) and the North African Food Sovereignty Network (Siyada). He is currently the Arab region Programme Coordinator at the Transnational Institute (TNI). His work is focused on issues of extractivism, resources, land and food sovereignty as well as climate, environmental, and energy justice in the Arab region. He is the author/editor of four books: “Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region” (2023), “The Arab Uprisings: A decade of struggles” (2022), “The Struggle for Energy Democracy in the Maghreb” (2017) and The Coming Revolution to North Africa: The Struggle for Climate Justice (2015). He also contributed chapters to various books including “The Oxford Handbook of Economic Imperialism” (2022), “The Routledge Essential Guide to Critical Development Studies” (2021), “Fanon Today: Reason and Revolt of the Wretched of the Earth” (2021), “A Region in Revolt: Mapping the Recent Uprisings in North Africa and West Asia” (2020), “The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism” (2016) and “Voices of Liberation: Frantz Fanon” (2014). His other writings have appeared in Africa Is A Country, the Guardian, Middle East Eye, Counterpunch, New Internationalist, Jadaliyya, open Democracy, ROAR magazine, Pambazuka, Nawaat, El Watan and the Huffington Post

Razaz Bashier (chapter contributor)

Razaz is a PhD candidate at the African Centre for Cities-University of Cape Town and a researcher at ISTinaD centre in Khartoum. She is interested in exploring questions of governance, political economy and techno-politics of energy systems in cities of the global South. As well as their links to broader questions of social justice, democracy and the energy transition.

Dr. Nobukhosi Ngwena (discussant)

Dr. Ngwena is a planner by profession. Dr. Ngwenya is a Junior Research Fellow at Environmental Humanities South. Her research interests are centred on urban morphology, with a particular focus on community-led planning, development and transformation of human settlements in South Africa. As an urban planner and community development practitioner, Dr. Ngwenya has worked extensively with communities and community organisations providing innovative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges faced by residents living in informal settlements.

Dr. Ngwenya also has extensive experience developing stakeholder engagement frameworks for projects being implemented in several countries on the continent. Building on earlier work on the drivers of change within Cape Town’s human settlements fabric and her PhD work on the processes of informal land occupation, Nobukhosi’s current work critically examines the human-infrastructure nexus within critical zones. Particular attention is paid to the impact that infrastructure has on material flows and, consequently, the critical zone’s capacity to support habitability in peri-urban areas.

Dr. Ngwenya holds the following degrees: a Bachelor of Social Science (BSocSci) with majors in Psychology and Sociology (UCT); a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Development Studies (UCT); a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development Studies (UCT); a Master of City and Regional Planning (UCT), and a Doctor of Philosophy with specialisation in Planning.