ERC funds project studying responses to environmental transformation caused by resource extraction in Africa

ICOG-researcher Iva Pesa has received an ERC Starting Grant to study the cultural and political responses to environmental transformation caused by resource extraction in Africa. The European Research Council (ERC) awards these personal grants of EUR 1.5 million to excellent researchers in order to stimulate groundbreaking research in Europe.

AFREXTRACT: Environmental histories of resource extraction in Africa: Understanding cultural and political responses to environmental transformation

Mining and oil drilling have caused dramatic environmental transformation across Africa. But why do various communities react so differently to severe pollution and environmental change? This project will compare oil drilling in the Niger Delta, copper mining in Zambia and gold mining in South Africa to better comprehend the lived experiences of environmental transformation. It will combine a range of sources, including oral history, literature and music, to go beyond binaries of protest or submission to pollution. The project will engage two PhD students and two postdoctoral researchers and it will collaborate closely with the University of Port Harcourt, Copperbelt University and the University of Pretoria, as well as a number of environmental NGOs.