European Research Council Grant for research into forms of resistance to the environmental impact of resource extraction in Africa
Dr Iva Pesa, Assistant Professor of History at the Faculty of Arts (University of Groningen) has been awarded an European Researcg Council (ERC) Grant of €1,500,000 for the AFREXTRACT research on cultural and political responses to environmental change.
Resource extraction has caused devastating effects all over the world. Yet the reactions to these consequences are very different. Dr Iva Pesa looks for an answer to the question of why the environmental changes caused by mining and oil extraction in Africa have provoked such different reactions. In her research, she looks at three emblematic localities of large-scale industrial resource extraction in sub-Saharan Africa: oil drilling in Nigeria, copper mining in Zambia, and gold mining in South Africa. Using local literary works and songs, and paying particular attention to forms of popular political mobilisation, the project sheds light on the lived experiences of environmental transformation in Africa.
ERC Grant
With the personal grant of €1,500,000, the ERC encourages talented young researchers in Europe to start an independent research project and set up a research team. An ERC grant enables researchers to initiate bold, groundbreaking research and break new grounds in their field.
Read more about Dr Iva Pesa.
Last modified: | 09 March 2022 12.18 p.m. |
More news
-
02 September 2024
Preserving the web for researchers of the future
How do you archive the internet? What are you going to keep and what are you not going to keep? And who decides this? These are questions that Susan Aasman thinks about on a daily basis. The media historian and Professor of Digital Humanities at...
-
02 September 2024
Come to the Arts Festival for science, stories, music, and more
On Saturday, September 21, the Faculty of Arts at the University of Groningen will host the Literature Festival, a scientific event for anyone interested in the diverse world of the humanities. The Harmonie Building and the surrounding squares will...
-
17 July 2024
Veni-grants for ten researchers
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a Veni grant of up to €320,000 each to ten researchers of the University of Groningen and the UMCG. The Veni grants are designed for outstanding researchers who have recently gained a PhD.