A new Seminar Series on Critical Minerals hosted by the African Extractivism and the Green Transition (AEGT) research partnership will be launched on Wednesday January 15.
Building on the insights of a multidisciplinary team of partners in place since 2018, the AEGT project studies the dynamics of critical minerals’ extraction, beneficiation and regulatory innovations in four leading Southern Africa mineral exporters – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The six-year project brings together political economists, anthropologists and sociologists, legal scholars, historians and policy analysts and advocates from a diverse collection of research organisations, with the aim of addressing key research and knowledge gaps and supporting public debates and policy-making initiatives in Southern Africa and beyond. AEGT Project Director Prof Richard Saunders of the Department of Politics will introduce the project’s work at the event.
The Seminar Series’ first roundtable, "Harnessing lithium for a just and sustainable energy transition: Implications for local communities and producer states," will be held Wednesday, January 15 from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. in Ross Building South 638 and online.
Participants will share the early findings of a 5-year SSHRC-funded study called Lithium Frontiers which explores the politics of lithium extraction in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Canada and Chile. Specifically, it will discuss the mobilization of political actors and interests in a context of competing claims over the development of lithium-based derivatives.
The roundtable will feature experts from the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto including:
Craig Johnson, Political Science, University of Guelph
Donald Kingsbury, Political Science, University of Toronto
Teresa Kramarz, School of the Environment, University of Toronto
Faris Malecki, MES Program, University of Toronto
Miriam Shaftoe, MES Program, University of Toronto
This event is open to all LA&PS students & faculty.
All attendees, both in-person and virtual, are kindly asked to register in advance for this event.
