Thus, despite policy shifts in certain countries that herald the retrenchment of fossil fuels or promotion of nuclear energy, global investments in renewables are burgeoning to feed an overall rising energy demand. How does this phenomenon reinscribe existing geographies of colonialism, power and privilege, or alternatively, challenge them? What are the critical modalities of a “just transition”? This open, interdisciplinary workshop will interrogate the imaginaries of East vs West, North vs South, in relation to renewable energy policies and the widespread emergence of speculative development. Our keynote speaker will reframe this by complicating perspectives on internal colonialism and geographies of power within Europe, while the afternoon panel will gather UBC researchers to reflect on comparative case studies in other parts of the world.
Program
Part I, 11am-12:15pm Guest keynote, FROM SACRIFICE ZONES TO GREEN COLONIALISM: SARDINIA AND THE UNEVEN GEOGRAPHIES OF ENERGY TRANSITION
—light lunch—
Part II, 1-3pm, Panel discussion, POWER PLAYS: GREEN CAPITALISM AND GREEN COLONIALISM IN GLOBAL CONTEXT
Presenters:
· Bernard Perley, CIS (Facilitator)
· Pasang Sherpa, CIS /Asian Studies
· Jessica Dempsey, Geography
· Allison Macfarlane, SPPGA
· Candis Callison, CIS / SPPGA
Guest Keynote
From Sacrifice Zones to Green Colonialism: Sardinia and the Uneven Geographies of the Energy Transition
Guest Keynote, Dr. Aide Esu,
University of Cagliari, Italy
The global race towards Net Zero is increasingly framed as a pathway towards a sustainable future, yet the transition to renewable energy risks reproducing the unequal geographies of power that historically characterized fossil-fuel capitalism and colonial extraction. This talk explores Sardinia as a European “sacrifice zone” where the emerging green transition intersects with longstanding patterns of territorial marginalization, militarization, extractivism, and uneven development. Drawing on sacrifice zone as a form of slow violence (Nixon 2011), I will examine how renewable energy infrastructures, land appropriation, and speculative development projects may reproduce asymmetrical relations between centres and peripheries, challenging conventional distinctions between North and South and East and West. By situating Sardinia within broader debates on green capitalism and green colonialism, I will reflect on a critical understanding of a just transition that moves beyond technological substitution and addresses the coloniality of spatial development itself. The Sardinian experience invites a rethinking of North/South and East/West relations by highlighting the persistence of internal asymmetries within Europe and the need for alternative models of energy democracy, territorial justice, and ecological sovereignty.
Dr. Aide Esu is an Italian political sociologist who studies violence, power, and social movements. Her recent book, “Occupying Island: Resisting Militarization in a No-War Zone” explored the historical context and impacts of the American NATO bases in Sardinia, as well as the social movements of resistance against military operations on Sardinian lands and seas. This work engages with current, deeply contested initiatives for energy development in Sardinia.
Efforts to mitigate the climate and nature emergency drive a new wave of green modernization. While this has the potential to challenge conventional energy industries, a growing enthusiasm for resource-intensive data systems and AI, including many solutions perceived as “climate-smart,” drive a renewed and voracious hunger for electric power.
This talk is made possible by the JMC Seed Grant for a Collaborative Project on East/West Critical Infrastructure Studies.
This event is co-funded by UBC Jean Monnet Centre for Critical Infrastructural Studies, UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC Centre for Climate Justice and UBC Department of Anthropology.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
