Political Ecologies of Race: Settler Colonialism and Environmental Racism in the United States and Canada
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Levi Van Sant
School of Integrative Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
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Richard Milligan
Department of Geosciences and Urban Studies Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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Sharlene Mollett
Department of Human Geography and Centre for Critical Development Studies, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Levi Van Sant
School of Integrative Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
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Richard Milligan
Department of Geosciences and Urban Studies Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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Sharlene Mollett
Department of Human Geography and Centre for Critical Development Studies, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Drawing inspiration from popular efforts to connect a wide array of political struggles, this symposium examines the ways that racial-colonial politics unfold through nature and environmental practices linking past, present, and future across the United States and Canada. By way of introduction, we ask: What does it mean to do political ecologies of race in Canada and the United States? For us the response cannot be additive—merely grafting attention to racial/colonial politics onto established scholarly conventions. Instead, we aim for a deeper analysis that challenges and enlivens the field of political ecology. This introduction highlights what is at stake, and identifies the ways that the contributors' research pushes the field. Ultimately, we argue that political ecologies of race can help reinvigorate intellectual projects and build liveable futures by recognising and supporting the connections between ongoing struggles. We hope this symposium contributes to the task.
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