Can we imagine green transitions that break with today’s dominant models? This seminar introduces research uncovering alternative innovations and democratic forms of organizing across three continents.
- Date: Monday April 20
- Time: 14:00-16:00
- Location: UiS Campus, EOJ 376/377
- Registration
Radical Democracy in Practice: Grassroot Alternatives for Just Futures
This talk presents PhD research on grassroots alternatives to mainstream development in rural India. Through two community organizations and the national Vikalp Sangam network, it explores how marginalized smallholder farmers build futures grounded in autonomy, justice, ecology, cultural restoration, and direct democracy. The dissertation also examines how scholars, activists, and community actors can collaborate to support transformative forms of organizing.
Emilia Lewartowska is a PhD Fellow at Roskilde University working at the intersection of post‑development and degrowth.
Alternative Communities and the Subtle Work of Green Transitions
This talk presents findings from Producing Alternative Green Futures, a research project examining how alternative communities in India, South Africa, and Denmark subtly influence green transitions. Drawing on ethnographic studies of eco-villages, farmer collectives, and anti-extractivist organizing, it highlights imagination, futures, and the slow, everyday ways transformative ideas take shape.
Jacob Rasmussen is Associate Professor at Department of Social Science and Business, Roskilde University. Trained as an anthropologist, his research has focused on urban politics, youth and conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. His recent projects are situated at the intersection between urban challenges and sustainability: ranging from smart cities and urban citizenship, over sustainable waste-water management in informal settlements to questions of alternative political and economic organization for sustainable livelihoods.
The seminar is funded by the Department of Media and Social Sciences, University of Stavanger, and organized by the Centre for Gender Studies and the research groups Sustainable Urban Development and Design, Social and Spatial Justice, and Feminist Knowledge Production as part of the Just Futures and Green Transitions project.