EXALT Podcast

This month we are very excited to be trying out a different format as we are joined by two former guests, Manuela Picq and Markus Kröger. Manuela and Markus both have work related to resistance efforts and we thought that their respective work would come together into a quite interesting discussion. First each gives insight into their respective experiences and then we talk collectively about their experiences. Manuela gives us a peek into her work as a water defender in Ecuador, while Markus shares his experiences working with resistance movements in India and Brazil. They bring together the lessons and strategies for resistance groups they have written about and discussed on the podcast previously, looking at synergies and overlaps that individuals and groups can bring into their work to increase the likelihood of their resistance succeeding. Even though they come from quite different contexts, there are many points of overlap and fertile ground for a robust discussion. Manuela's first episode https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/manuela-picq-what-lessons-can-activists-resistance/id1499621252?i=1000704855663 Want to learn more about Manuela's work? https://www.manuelapicq.com/ Markus' first episode https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/markus-kr%C3%B6ger-what-is-the-best-way-to-push-for-change/id1499621252?i=1000496576381 Want to learn more about Markus' work? https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/markus-kr%C3%B6ger 

This month we had a compelling conversation with Manuela Picq, who is a Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Political Science and Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies at Amherst College (USA). However, this academic work is just part of Manuela's life as she lives between Massachusetts and Ecuador where she is an activist defending the water and Indigenous livelihoods. Manuela blends academics, activism, legal action, and land defense. Manuela gives us insight into what it means to be a water defender and what the struggle means over time and the duration of a life. She highlights the importance of building a community and complimenting each other within the wider fabric of a resistance effort. We are reminded that nothing can be defended that is bigger than ourselves on our own. Manuela gives us insight into her experiences and the things that have happened to her within working against extractivist forces. Interested to learn more about Manuela's work? https://www.amherst.edu/people/facstaff/mpicq You can watch her keynote talk from the Development Days 2025 conference on the Finnish Society for Development Research's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRuAL7qgxxw&list=PLbjidPMU6Z_Hhtlq1H1sWY-LiK7TPn2rK&index=3 

This month we are honoured to be joined by one of our colleagues from Global Development Studies at the University of Helsinki. Tiina Seppälä came to Global Development Studies by way of International Relations. Her work has looked at global inequalities, poverty, war, and social justice issues among many others. Activism is also an area of interest and Tiina has worked with peace activists in the UK, slum and women's rights activists in South Asia, as well as asylum seekers in the Finnish context. Tiina gives us insight into her trajectory and how she naturally progressed from one project to another and how funding has had an impact on the directions of her career. During her fieldwork she had some interesting encounters with the dark side of development, or what could be called maldevelopment. Tiina speaks openly and honestly about her own positionality within research and some of the mismatches between the theoretical and the real. The role of unlearning can sometimes be just as important as the role of learning. Tiina gives us insight into the ways in which artistic methods have played a role in how she approaches her research. Our conversation is wide ranging and quite compelling!Want to learn more about Tiina's work? https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/tiina-sisko-sepp%C3%A4l%C3%A4 Want to learn more about The Finnish Society for Development Research (FSDR)? https://www.kehitystutkimus.fi/?page_id=326 

In this bonus episode of the TreesForDev podcast we are delighted to be joined by Project PI, Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes and Maria Holmberg who works for FIDA in Tanzania. Maria H. moved to Tanzania with her parents when she was 1 year old, grew up there, and has been working with different development projects in Tanzania since 1984. Currently, Maria H. is working with tree planting and environmental education. Maria H. tells us about some of the positive impacts of tree planting in this context because the planted trees grow faster than the natural forests, which means they can then be cut down and used so the natural forests are allowed to continue to grow. The population in Tanzania has grown quite quickly over the last 70 years, from approximately 12 million to over 60 million. This has naturally increased demand for food and cooking fuel, which has led to the decimation of natural forests, which in turn threw the ecology out of whack. However, if the stumps are left to sprout and the trees are allowed to come back, then the ecology slowly comes back into balance. Maria H. particularly focuses on the impacts to the role of water in the ecosystem balance. Join us for this extensive and intensive conversation!Want to learn more about Maria H.'s work? https://www.fspm.fi/maria-holmberg-tanzania/ (in Swedish) Want to learn more about the Trees For Development Project? www.treesfordev.fi

We are delighted to present a really interesting conversation on a yet unexplored facet of extractivism. This month we talked with Saana Hokkanen who is a doctoral researcher in Global Development Studies at University of Helsinki. Saana's main interest is in the concept of soil extractivism, which is “is a form of capital accumulation based on systemic erasure of soils multispecies life.” Saana gives us insight into how soil is more than “just dirt” and the ways in which modern, industrial agriculture have negatively impacted the array of beings that make up soil. Saana gives us a lot of food for thought in relation to how our modern food system is composed and the multiple levels on which the extractive logics play out.Want to learn more about Saana's work? https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/saana-maarit-hokkanenWant to read Saana's article on soil extractivism? https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103298

This month we are honored to be joined by Evan Sullivan who is an assistant professor at SUNY Adirondack in Upstate New York. Evan is a historian whose research interests examine the intersections of disability, war and gender in the modern era, especially in the World War One era. Evan's interest in this era stems from his master's studies and from some of the archival collections that he found researching his master's thesis. Evan gives us insight into his research trajectory, including how he started investigating disability history. We discussed how perceptions of disability are formed and whose stories are being told. Historically, there have been many cases where disability has been used to tell a story that does not match with the lived experience of the disabled people themselves. In many cases these stories were used more to satisfy the emotional/inspiration needs of the reader rather than tell the story and/or serve the needs of the disabled veterans.  Would you like to check out Evan's new book? Constructing Disability after the Great War: Blind Veterans in the Progressive Era: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p088247  If you would like to check out more of Evan's work, please visit his University profile: https://www.sunyacc.edu/staff-faculty/evan-sullivan or personal website: https://evanpsullivan.wordpress.com/  You can also find Evan on various social media platforms: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561801370318  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/evanpsullivan.bsky.social  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.evanpsullivan_historian 

In this brief update, Sophia shares warm season's greetings and outlines what the audience has to look forward to coming up in 2025! Want to learn more about the TreesForDev project? www.treesfordev.fi

This month we talked to Sergio Fernández Bravo, who is a fellow doctoral researcher from Global Development Studies at University of Helsinki. Sergio is interested in the relationship between natural sciences and politics, specifically in the Global South. His current research focuses on synthetic pesticides and how they are used as devices of power and influence the epistemic arrangements within the Mexican Green Revolution. Sergio gives insight into the history of pesticide use in Mexico and the various ways that they have influenced the trajectory of the region. Even though we are not directly invoking the term extractivism very often, there are so many connections and cross-fertilizations with extractivisms. For example, we discuss the role of terra nullius and wasteland in creating imaginaries about how land can and should be used (and what humans can do with it!) Join us for this wide ranging and intensely interesting conversation! If you are interested to learn more about Sergio's work, please visit his academic profile. https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/sergio-fernandez-bravo  If you would like to contact Sergio for any further discussion of what you heard in this episode, please feel welcome and encouraged to drop him a line (sergio.fernandezbravo (at) helsinki.fi). He is up for making connections and having conversations about pesticides and the broader topics of his research.

This month we were honoured to be joined by Rauna Kuokkanen, a Research Professor of Arctic Indigenous Politics at the University of Lapland (Finland) and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Over the course of her career, Rauna's work has focused on comparative Indigenous politics and various forms of violence, from structural settler-colonial to interpersonal gendered violence,  and theorized Indigenous feminism. She has also critiqued the narrow epistemic foundations of the academy and how Indigenous epistemes could be ethically received as a gift. In this conversation, we explore her new project on the systematic exclusion of the Sámi people and institutions in pursuit of the Nordic energy transition. What does a just transition mean for the Sámi and other Indigenous peoples? The push for decarbonization puts huge pressure on the land, resources and livelihoods in the Sápmi, while Sámi are simultaneously at the forefront experiencing the negative impacts of the climate crisis. Join us for this extremely interesting and wide-ranging conversation.  Interested in learning more about Rauna's work? https://rauna.net/

This month we are delighted to be joined by Prof. Bruno Ramamonjisoa from the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar. Bruno is the Director of the PhD School on Natural Resources Management and Development and coordinator of the Applied Research Laboratory at the School of Agronomy. Bruno is one of our key collaborators in Madagascar and an expert on sustainable management of natural resources. In this interesting and wide-ranging conversation, Bruno gave us insight into some of the issues on the ground facing tree planting initiatives. Interested to learn more about Bruno's research? https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bruno-Ramamonjisoa Interested to learn more about the TreesForDev project? www.treesfordev.fi 

This month we are happy to be joined by Markus Kröger and Peter Dewees. Markus is a professor of Global Development Studies at University of Helsinki and one of the co-PIs of the TreesForDev Project. Peter is retired from a 30 plus year career with the World Bank. During his time with the World Bank Peter worked on many different projects, with a focus on why rural people cultivate and plant trees, wood fuel use, and the management of the Miombo woodlands. While his focus was on Eastern Africa, he also has done work in Eastern Europe and Asia. He shares with us his insights into the role of rural peoples' agency in tree planting and how historical factors have influenced the land use practices. Top-down processes are not always the best path to get trees into the rural landscape; if a farmer needs a tree, they will figure out how to grow it. He shares with us some of the innovations that have been brought to the field that have been successful. We also discuss the question of ecological restoration and whether it is possible through tree planting schemes. We talk about some of the mismatches between the goals of funding agencies and the on-the-ground realities of the people living in place. And while he worked at the Bank for a long time, the views he expressed in this podcast are his own, and should not be ascribed to the World Bank. Want to learn more about Peter's work? https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-HD6w24AAAAJ&hl=en Want to learn more about Markus' research? https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/markus-kr%C3%B6ger Want to revisit the TreesForDev episodes about carbon? Steffen Böhm https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast/treesfordev-maria-ehrnstr%C3%B6m-fuentes-and-steffen-boehm/id1499621252?i=1000666744435 Forrest Fleischman https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast/treesfordev-maria-ehrnstr%C3%B6m-fuentes-and-forrest/id1499621252?i=1000663758730 Want to learn more about the TreesForDev Project? www.treesfordev.fi

This month we are honored to be joined by Jojo Mehta from Stop Ecocide International, which is an international advocacy organization with the goal of making ecocide a crime. Jojo gives us insight into the continuous thread throughout her life that led her to this work. Her “outrage” moment was when she learned about fracking. Her work in the anti-fracking community introduced her to the late Polly Higgins, with whom she co-founded Stop Ecocide International. Jojo gives us insight into what kind of gross environmental harms which fall under the umbrella of ecocide. The Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide describes it as "unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts". This definition focuses on the potential results of the activity in question which creates a kind of reality check. It is not exactly what you do but how you do it, how much you do it, and where you do. It is any instance where the net results of what ones does results in gross damage to the environment. This would force this companies to look at their activities on the ground to assess their activities and whether they are at risk of committing ecocide through their activities. This conversation goes deep and takes us to so many different angles of criminalizing environmental destruction.  Want to learn more about Jojo? https://www.stopecocide.earth/jojo-mehta-profile Want to learn more about Stop Ecocide International and the work they are undertaking? https://www.stopecocide.earth/

This month we are delighted to be joined by Mario Blaser. Mario is a cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor of Geography and Archaeology at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Mario has engaged in ethnographic work with communities in many different parts of the world, including in Paraguay and Canada. His fascination with how people lived in other places is rooted in his early experiences living in a small town in Southern Argentina and interacting with visitors passing through. Mario gives us insight into what ethnography is in practice and how it extends beyond just conducting interviews in place. Mario introduces us to the idea of “deep hanging out” and shares how this approach helps the researcher to create a more nuanced and subtle understanding of relations in place. Mario uses this base to unpack for us his insights into the pluriversal world and ways of worlding or how the world is made through practices. In short, the world is not something that is already there, but it produced and reproduced through human and non-human relations in place. This just scratches the surface of this rich conversation. His latest book is For Emplacement: Political Ontology in Two Acts , and its Spanish language twin (is not exactly the same but shares the same “genetic make up”) Incomún: Un ensayo de ontología política para el fin del mundo (único), which is available for free download.   Want to learn more about the duck-rabbit illusion? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit%E2%80%93duck_illusion  Want to learn more about Mario's work? https://www.mun.ca/archaeology/people/faculty/mario-blaser/

In this episode we are joined by Marketta Vuola and Matthieu Pierre. Marketta is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package on Madagascar. Matthieu Pierre is starting his PhD at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar, focusing on protected areas and restoration in Madagascar. In this conversation we talk about the general context of Madagascar, including its high biodiversity, and the role that conservation and ecological restoration play in Madagascar. Marketta and Mattieu have been in collaboration for several years, even predating the start of the TreesForDev project.  We talk about the two areas where fieldwork is being undertaken in the TreesForDev project, Mahajanga and Andapa. Mahajanga is on the West Coast while Andapa is in the northern part of the country. At the time of recording, Matthieu had just returned from doing fieldwork and gives us some of his impressions from these on the ground experiences.  Want to learn more about the TreesForDev project? www.treesfordev.fi Want to learn more about Marketta's research? https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/fi/persons/marketta-paula-sofia-vuola  Want to learn more about our Matthieu's research? https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/trees-for-development/people-partners/partners 

This month we are delighted to be joined by Andrea Brock, who is a political ecologist at University of Sussex. Andrea works with forest defenders and environmental movements looking at the responses from state and corporate actors to ecological dissent. Andrea shares with us the trajectory of her research career which was influenced by being brought up in the German Rhineland in proximity to the world's largest open-cast lignite mine. She shares with us her insights into the actions of the mining company and the greenwashing acrobatics that are put in place to distract from the ecological destruction that is taking place as a result of these mining projects. She gives insight into the repression that had been levied against land defenders in the ancient Hambach Forest which has been under threat from mine operator RWE. In addition, the relationships between different types policing and ecocide are explored and how this influences the domination of non-human and human species.  Her research is based in the European context and examines how the logics of repression play out and ecological defenders are criminalized in Europe.  Want to learn more about Andrea Brock's work? https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p322495-andrea-brock  Resources mentioned during the episode: Brock, A., & Dunlap, A. (2018). Normalising corporate counterinsurgency: Engineering consent, managing resistance and greening destruction around the Hambach coal mine and beyond. Political geography, 62, 33-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.09.018.  Dunlap, A., & Brock, A. (Eds.). (2022). Enforcing ecocide: Power, policing & planetary militarization. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99646-8 

In this episode we are joined by Professor Steffen Böhm from University of Exeter School of Business and project PI and Associate Professor Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes from Hanken School of Business. In this conversation we explore carbon markets and how they work (or do not work) and what their connection is to so-called green development. We talk about compliance markets and voluntary markets. In the voluntary carbon markets, anyone can develop a project that plants trees in exchange for carbon credits. There are mechanisms and logics that are not well understood by the general populace that allow highly polluting companies to make themselves look carbon neutral or green through their participation in carbon offsetting. This myopic focus on carbon has developed into a more or less fetishist relationship with carbon and overly simplified measurements that obfuscate the wider social environmental impacts of companies.  Interested to learn more about Steffen's work? https://business-school.exeter.ac.uk/people/profile/index.php?web_id=Steffen_Boehm  Interested to learn more about the TreesForDev Project? www.treesfordev.fi  Resources mentioned in the episode:  Böhm, S., Misoczky, M. C., & Moog, S. (2012). Greening capitalism? A Marxist critique of carbon markets. Organization Studies, 33(11), 1617-1638. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840612463326 Ehrnström-Fuentes, M., & Kröger, M. (2018). Birthing extractivism: The role of the state in forestry politics and development in Uruguay. Journal of Rural Studies, 57, 197-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.12.022  Ramirez, J., & Böhm, S. (2021). Transactional colonialism in wind energy investments: Energy injustices against vulnerable people in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Energy Research & Social Science, 78, 102135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102135 

In this episode we are joined by Forrest Fleischman from the University of Minnesota and the project principal investigator, Maria Ehrnstöm-Fuentes from Hanken School of Economics.  Forrest gives us insight into the work he has done in the Indian context in relation to tree planting and the long-term outcomes of tree planting schemes. India has had a long history of tree planting programs, but are they always successful? In the western Himalaya, where Forrest is working about half the planting takes place in areas where trees are already growing and about half takes place in areas where trees are not currently growing and most probably will not successfully grow due to environmental or land use reasons. There is sometimes a disconnect between what the government programs want to accomplish (or what looks good on paper) and the experience on the ground of the best land use—both geographically and for the community living in place. One key in indicator of success is the inclusion of the community and getting their buy-in and participation in the tree planting program. However, more research is needed to figure out how to generate that local participation and where it roots from.  Forrest gives us insight into the mythology of the modern concept that trees everywhere are a good thing. As more people are divorced from earning their living from the land this concept become more and more common. However, this lionization of the forest landscapes devalues the natural and vital landscapes that naturally do not have trees or have only scattered trees. These landscapes are currently being destroyed in support of tree planting to match this prominent environmental narrative.  Resources mentioned in the episode: Veldman, J.W. et al., Tyranny of trees in grassy biomes. Science 347,484-485(2015). DOI:10.1126/science.347.6221.484-c Bai, Y., & Cotrufo, M. F. (2022). Grassland soil carbon sequestration: Current understanding, challenges, and solutions. Science, 377(6606), 603-608. Forget Tree Planting, Start Tree Growing a Q & A with Lalisa Duguma https://forestsnews.cifor.org/61174/forget-tree-planting-start-tree-growing?fnl=en 

This month we are delighted to welcome Maija Lassila back to the EXALT podcast for our second conversation. Maija is post-doctoral researcher at Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and recently received her doctorate from Global Development Studies at University of Helsinki. Maija takes to the North and gives us an overview of the work she did during her doctorate. We talk about reindeer herding and the impacts of resource extractivism (and the threat of future resource extractivism) on reindeer herding in Sápmi and Finnish Lapland. Maija “examines the contestations arising from the early stages of mining expansion in Utsjoki and Sodankylä.” Maija looks at the contestations the local community has to mining projects and traces out how this plays out in practice. Join us for this thought-provoking and wide-ranging conversation that gives deep insight into this world. Maija also reminds us how important it is to engage with post-extractivist alternatives as a way to reduce our dependence on the consumption.  If you would like to learn more about Maija's academic work https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/maija-lassila  If you would like to read Maija's doctoral thesis, Incommensurabilities of New Arctic Extractive Projects: Resistance to mining among Sámi, reindeer herders and local communities in Sápmi and Finnish Lapland, http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-9652-1 (links to the articles can be found in the dissertation) If you are interested to listen to Maija's first appearance on the podcast, Extractivism Research and Breaking Away from the Written Word, https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/maija-lassila-extractivism-research-and-breaking-away/id1499621252?i=1000472526548 

In this month's episode we are delighted to be joined by Brazilian agroecologist, Karen Nobre Krull, who has worked on projects in federal environmental and research institutions in Brazil, such as EMBRAPA and ICMBio, and in the last year with the NGO Imaflora. Her work focuses on developing strategies and implementing actions with rural communities for the agroecological transition of productive systems, regenerative agriculture, and rural development, incorporating environmental, social, and economic aspects. Over the past four years, her work has been concentrated in the Brazilian Amazon, particularly in the state of Pará.  In this conversation Karen gives us insight into how she first became interested in the topic of family farming and how it supports the spread of agroecological practices. Agroecological farming in Brazil stands as an alternative to the industrial agricultural practices associated with the dominant food system. Creating space for these small farmers is increasingly important in the face of the agroextractivist spread of monoculture agriculture like soybeans and corn.  If you are interested in these topics, Karen recommends the book, Ideas to Postpone the End of the World by Ailton Krenak Interested to hear more about Karen's research? https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-nobre-krull-24420118b/  Check out the presentation Karen gave in connection with the EXALT Initiative and the TreesForDev Project https://youtu.be/gKzH0xWFcCM?si=XyWzO4YVAn9db-ng  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

In this episode we are joined by Linda Anala Tesfaye and Bikila Warkineh. Linda is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package that is looking at Ethiopia. Bikila is the Head of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management at Addis Ababa University and works as Associate Professor of Ecology. His research centers on the broad area of the ecological sciences and ecosystems ecology. He is strongly interested in the science, politics, and policies of natural resource management, climate change, sustainable development, and how these are linked with socio-economic development. Bikila and Linda give us insight into the history and current developments in tree planting in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a long history with tree planting and more generally greening initiatives. Through the Green Legacy Initiative, Ethiopia has become a forerunner in ecological restoration in the African context. The activities in Ethiopia go beyond just tree planting, but really working toward developing a resilient and green culture in the face of climate change. One key facet of the work being done in Ethiopia is the widespread use of native species in the planting projects. This model has had many positive regional impacts and has strongly influenced the approach to tree planting in its neighboring countries.  Want to learn more about the TreesForDev project? www.treesfordev.fi Want to learn more about Linda's research? https://www.hanken.fi/en/person/linda-annala-tesfaye  Want to learn more about Bikila's research? https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=stfEp1EAAAAJ&hl=en  Want to learn more about our collaborator, Addis Ababa University? https://www.aau.edu.et/  Interested to learn more about the Green Legacy Initiative? https://greenlegacy.et/green-legacy/home  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

We are joined by Marketta Vuola from University of Helsinki's Global Development Studies. In this conversation Marketta gives us insight into the work that she is doing in her doctoral research. She started her academic career interested in conservation and national parks, but during her field work she kept running into gold mining and its role in the rural areas of Madagascar. Marketta gives insight into what artisanal means on the ground in Madagascar, which is not a simple thing to define as there is wide range of practices that fall under this designation. The scale she investigates is quite small scale and overturns the masculine stereotype of mining because it is often an activity that involves whole families. There are approximately 700000 artisanal miners, and it is the second most popular source of income after subsistence agriculture. Marketta opens some of the dynamics that surround the complicated relationship between mining, conservation, and violence in Madagascar.  Interested in the book Marketta mentioned? Made in Madagascar: Sapphires, Ecotourism, and the Global Bazaar by Andrew Walsh https://utorontopress.com/9781442603745/made-in-madagascar/  Want to learn more about Marketta's academic work? https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/marketta-paula-sofia-vuola  Interested to listen to the EXALT episode with Aili Pyhälä that was mentioned during the episode? https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/aili-pyh%C3%A4l%C3%A4-activism-alternatives-and-academia/id1499621252?i=1000466051482  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

In this episode we are joined by Ossi Ollinaho and Natacha Bruna. Ossi is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package that is looking at Mozambique. Natacha is scholar activist and researcher who is doing a post-doctoral project at Cornell University in the Global Development Department, previously she worked at our project partner at Observatório do Meio Rural (OMR), in Mozambique. Natacha coordinated the research line on models of rural development and her research has focused on the impacts of large-scale investment.  Natacha gives us an insight on her take into Green Extractivism and how this plays out in the Mozambican context. She sees green extractivism as a variation of extractivism where what is being extracted is emission rights. Emission rights are extracted from the rural poor and then sold to entities like multinational firms who then have the right to continue to pollute. The privilege of pollution is given to the main actors who are perpetrating the pollution. We explore this dynamic from multiple perspectives.  Want to learn more about the TreesForDev project? www.treesfordev.fi Want to learn more about Ossi's research? https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/ossi-ollinaho  Want to learn more about Natacha's research? https://cals.cornell.edu/natacha-bruna  Want to learn more about our collaborator in Mozambique, Observatório do Meio Rural (OMR)? www.omrmz.org --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

In this episode we are joined by Marketta Vuola and Zo Randriamaro. Marketta is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package on Madagascar. Zo works for the Research and Support Center for Development Alternatives-Indian Ocean (RSCDA-IO) / Centre de Recherches et d'Appui pour les Alternatives de Développement-Océan Indien (CRAAD-OI). The RSCDA-IO / CRAAD-OI, which is a pan-African, non-profit organization. “Its mission is to promote sustainable development alternatives that are centered on the realization of human rights and based on the principles of gender equality, social, economic and ecological justice.” Marketta and Zo give us insight into the overarching context in Madagascar and share why it is one of the case study countries in the TreesForDev project. We discuss some of the disconnects between ecological restoration and conservation and also some of the ways that organizations tasked to help, do not always improve livelihood prospects on the ground.  Want to learn more about the TreesForDev project? www.treesfordev.fi Want to learn more about our collaborator in Madagascar, Centre de Recherches et d'Appui pour les Alternatives de Développement-Océan Indien (CRAAD-OI)? (In French) https://ccfd-terresolidaire.org/partenaire/centre-de-recherches-et-dappui-pour-les-alternatives-de-developpement-ocean-indien-craad-oi/  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are really excited to have a conversation with Rubén Vezzoni, who is one of our University of Helsinki colleagues from the Doctoral Programme in Political, Soci­etal and Regional Change. His work looks at different aspects of the political economy of the EU's green transition, with case studies on solar panels, hydrogen, and post-growth agri-food systems. In our conversation we focused in on “green” hydrogen and whether in practice it can live up to the grand narratives that are told about it, or whether it is just a story that obscure what is really going on. Rubén gives us some insights into the Finnish context and how the externalities from the consumption here are exported to other places, for example in the global South. The amount of stuff that we consume continues to increase, even under the auspices of green transition. To be able to exist these new technologies require more materials, more input, and more extraction. We look at the lock-ins and path dependencies and especially the drivers of relentless capital expansion and accumulation.  Resources mentioned during the episode: The Social Limits to Growth by Fred Hirsch https://www.routledge.com/Social-Limits-to-Growth/Hirsch/p/book/9780415119580  Interested to read more of Rubén's work?  “The Finnish Bioeconomy Beyond Growth” (this is the report that is discussed during the episode) http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-380-817-1  “How “clean” is the hydrogen economy? Tracing the connections between hydrogen and fossil fuels” https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2024.100817 “Joining the ideational and the material: transforming food systems toward radical food democracy” https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2024.1307759/full Check out his University profile here https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/ruben-vezzoni  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month on the EXALT podcast we are super excited to be joined by Xander Dunlap for a precedent-breaking third conversation. Xander is a research fellow at the Institute for Global Sustainability at Boston University and a visiting research fellow at Global Develop Studies at University of Helsinki. Xander talks to us about his new book from Pluto Press, “This System is Killing Us: Land Grabbing, the Green Economy and Ecological Conflict.” This book looks at the last 10 years of work Xander has done in the thick of environmental conflict. Xander unpacks the themes of the book for us and gives us insight into the concept of permanent ecological conflict. Token forms of activism and feel-good activities, which are not unfamiliar to academic circles, are not enough to think past the existing frameworks and modalities that people are living under. This book is an intervention against the mainstreaming or normalization of ecological crises. This conversation covers so many different aspects of the book and Xander's work. Join us for this impactful insight into why and how “This System is Killing Us.” Check out Xander's new book https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745348827/this-system-is-killing-us/  Check out Xander's profiles at Boston University https://www.bu.edu/igs/profile/alexander-dunlap/ and University of Helsinki https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/alexander-dunlap  Find Xander on X (formerly Twitter) @DrX_ADunlap --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

In this episode we are joined by Ossi Ollinaho and Máriam Abbas. Ossi is a project researcher from the TreesForDev project leading the work package that is looking at Mozambique. Máriam is a researcher from Observatório do Meio Rural (OMR), in Mozambique, who is coordinating the research line “Environment and Rural Areas”, which explores, among other topics, the impacts of climate change on agriculture, the causes of deforestation and mainstreaming biodiversity in the agricultural sector.  Ossi and Máriam give us insight into why Mozambique is one of the case study countries in the TreesForDev project. Agriculture accounts for approximately 25 percent of the GDP of the country. Thus, there is a large rural population, and the forest has a very important role in the rural populations' livelihood prospects. They reflect on the economic system and the underlying extractivist logics that are often incompatible with improving local conditions.  Want to learn more about the TreesForDev project? www.treesfordev.fi Want to learn more about our collaborator in Mozambique, Observatório do Meio Rural (OMR)? www.omrmz.org Want to learn more about Siemenpuu Foundation's work in Mozambique? https://siemenpuu.org/en/countries/mozambique/  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

Welcome to the debut episode of the limited series TreesForDev project podcast. In this episode we are honored to be joined by the project principal investigators, Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes and Markus Kröger, from Hanken School of Economics and University of Helsinki respectively. In this conversation, they introduce us to who they are and what types of questions are being investigated in the TreesForDev project. This project examines the dynamics of ecological restoration involving tree planting schemes. Planting trees is a popular and “easy” way to try to restore ecosystems and mitigate climate change. Our project examines the socio-ecological/economic impacts of tree planting in the global South. The project is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs through the Develop2 funding instrument, which is managed in conjunction with the Research Council of Finland. The TreesForDev will run until the end of 2026 and includes research in Finland, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Brazil. Want to learn more about the TreesForDev Project? Visit our website at www.treesfordev.fi Want to learn more about Maria's work? Please visit her research profile https://www.hanken.fi/en/person/maria-ehrnstrom-fuentes Want to learn more about Markus' work? Please visit his research profile https://www.helsinki.fi/en/about-us/people/people-finder/markus-kroger-9091436 This limited series podcast is made possible through funding from the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Sustainability Science (HELSUS) at the University of Helsinki. If you would like to learn more about HELSUS, please check out their webpage: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-institute-sustainability-science --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are overjoyed to be joined by fellow University of Helsinki Global Development Studies doctoral researcher, Martta Kaskien. Martta is currently working with the project Citizenship Utopias in the Global South: The Pursuit of Transformative Alternatives in Times of Civic Disillusionment. Her research is centred on feminist activist narratives in Kenya using ethnographic methods. She gives us insight into her research trajectory and how she got to this topic in this context, and how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted her fieldwork. She gives us insight into how the social pressure from anti-feminist political and public spaces, especially on social media, impact feminist activism and activists. However, even in the face of this pressure she has noticed the prevalence of curated spaces on social media that are created by the feminist activists themselves. These spaces are focused on community building and represent safe spaces for radical feminists to express themselves in the way they wish. These spaces are a form of an everyday utopia and allows these feminists to live life as they would like to today and how they would like to live in the real world  in the future. If you would like to know more about Martta's research work, please check out her University profile https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/martta-kaskinen  If you would like to read more about the Citizenship Utopias Project https://blogs.helsinki.fi/citizenshiputopias/  Want to check out Eija Ranta's episode that we refer to? Here is a direct links for your convenience.  Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/zw/podcast/eija-ranta-when-indigenous-movements-lead-governments/id1499621252?i=1000622609915  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1XUlXgKRWFSUj4jxh6yz3a?si=LbXpbC20SKOccxJoPOLGGw  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we were absolutely delighted to be joined by Joonatan Ala-Könni, for a super interesting conversation that connects natural sciences and extractivisms. Joonatan Ala-Könni is a doctoral researcher in Atmospheric Science at the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) at the University of Helsinki. Joonatan's work is all about climate change and using insights gained from the processes of carbon binding in aquatic environments. The work looks at the physical world – in very basic terms the transport of matter and heat in environments that are water based. His field is called micro-meteorology, which is looking at ecosystems that are no larger than a few hundred meters at the very largest. In the sub-arctic lakes and rivers form a large percentage of the total surface area of the space, thus they become a quite important player in carbon binding. There is surprisingly little data on the role lakes have in binding this carbon. Join us for this conversation to learn more about a natural science view on climate change.  If you are interested to know more about Joonatan and his work, please check out his university profile https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/joonatan-ala-k%C3%B6nni --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

To round out 2023, we wanted to release a brief episode to celebrate (over) four years of the EXALT Podcast and give a sneak peak at some exciting new happenings in 2024! We apologize for not being able to get a full anniversary special to you this year. We have had a lot on our plates with our respective research, as well as some major (positive) life changes. However, we are excited to announce some upcoming projects which will be crossing over with the EXALT Podcast feed! Don't worry! We will still be bringing you the EXALT Podcast you know and love each month, but with some limited series peppered in. We hope you will enjoy them! Thank you all so much for listening! We love doing the podcast and being able to have these conversations, and we wouldn't be able to do it without you, the listeners. Whether you have been listening from the beginning, you're just joining for the first time, or came in somewhere in between, we are grateful for you joining us each month! You can find out more about the TreesForDev project here: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/trees-for-development You can find out more about the New Directions in Development Studies and Sustainability project here: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/projects/new-directions-development-studies-and-sustainability --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are ecstatic to bring you the second part of our conversation with the creators of From the Cubby. We are once again joined by the same wonderful trio of  guests, Joe Spence, Nick Chamberlain, and Avi Betz-Heinemann. From the Cubby, is a three-part documentary film series,  which draws on six years of ethnographic fieldwork in Canterbury, England. The first film follows Martin, a man who was sleeping rough on the streets of Canterbury as a tuberculosis outbreak was about to spread through the rough sleeper community. The Cubby was a makeshift refuge for Martin and Nick. If you have not listened to part 1, which was released in November 2023, we highly suggest that you start there as this is a continuing conversation.  This conversation had a depth and breadth that rivaled our first conversation. Nick shares more of his on the ground experiences living on and off the streets in Canterbury. The subject matter is heady, but there is so much hope and humanity woven throughout the conversation. We hope that our listeners will enjoy the conclusion of this conversation as much as we did.  If you are interested to learn more about the documentary film series From the Cubby and see the trailer, please check out their webpage https://fromthecubby.com/.  If you would like to see the first film and are not able to go to one of the screenings, please send an email to fromthecubby@gmail.com and they can share a way to watch it online. If you are interested to learn more about Joe's academic work, please check out his profile at University of Kent https://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology-conservation/people/4064.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we were delighted to be joined by three amazing guests, Joe Spence, Nick Chamberlain, and Avi Betz-Heinemann (whose name you might recognize from last month's episode). All three of our guests have been involved with the documentary film series From the Cubby, which draws on six years of ethnographic fieldwork in Canterbury, England. The film series draws its name from a makeshift encampment that was a geographical epicenter implicated in an outbreak of tuberculosis. This was a wide ranging and dynamic conversation; thus, we have decided to break it into two parts, part two will be released as our December 2023 episode.  During our conversation our guests shared with us their firsthand perspective on the project and the series of events and threads that make the fabric of the story told through the project. As described by the film makers, “[this] is an extraordinary story, one that provides insights into lives on the brink, the challenges of conducting research with vulnerable populations, and a contribution to participatory and publicly engaged academia giving voice and visibility to people normally excluded from formal knowledge and film production.” We look at the actual events and tie them to some of the wider issues that affect vulnerable populations.  If you are interested to learn more about the documentary film series From the Cubby and see the trailer, please check out their webpage https://fromthecubby.com/.  If you would like to see the first film and are not able to go to one of the screenings, please send an email to fromthecubby@gmail.com and they can share a way to watch it online. If you are interested to learn more about Joe's academic work, please check out his profile at University of Kent https://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology-conservation/people/4064.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we have a deeply interesting conversation with social anthropologist, Dr. Khalil 'Avi' Betz-Heinemann, who is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the project Animal Crosslocations, which is resourced through the Resilient and Just Systems (RESET) Network at University of Helsinki. We talked about his new project, “Mosquito Crosslocations and Participatory Evaluations of Mosquito Interventions,” and the trajectory that led him to be interested in these topics. In this conversation we think through the complex web of relationships inherent to multispecies interactions. In particular, he highlighted some of the compelling reasons why we need to shift some of our narratives related to the myriad beings we humans characterize as “pests”. Pests is in quotes because using this language casually brings its own sometimes (often) misguided perceptions and assumptions about the role the being in question plays within the wider web of life. If you would like to engage with Avi and learn more about the Animal Cross locations project, please visit his blog - https://blogs.helsinki.fi/avibetzh/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we were delighted to be joined by Niti Bhan, who is a part-time doctoral researcher focusing on trans-disciplinary innovation at Aalto University in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Niti came to research after almost 30 years of situated practice. Niti specializes in human-centered design/innovation planning. This field asks question like, how can we understand people in their own lives, the way they live and operate as a starting point for design and innovation. In practice this means understanding the lived experience of people in place as a means to create a landscape of the operating environment within a product, service, or business model is introduced. This approach highlights that we cannot make the same kind of assumptions about people in different situated contexts. It is never just a product being introduced, but also how can it be paid for, how it would be distributed in place, and many other things that need to be taken into consideration before even starting to bring something to a particular market. AND this was just the beginning of our wide ranging and mind-expanding conversation! Check out Niti's Aalto Profile here Niti Bhan — Aalto University's research portal If you are interested to learn more about Jan Chipchase's work, check out his Ted Talk https://youtu.be/Qn2NR901NMY?si=E7TlvyvViiFo60gw  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are happy to welcome Ossi Ollinaho, a lecturer in Global Development Studies at University of Helsinki, on the podcast. In the conversation, we talk with Ossi about his journey from studying math and physics, to a Doctorate in Industrial Engineering and Management, to the experiences and questions which brought him to work in Global Development Studies. We also dive into how transitions to agroforestry techniques can turn out good, bad, and ugly, as well as how the systemic concept of keeping "business as usual" is a seductive slide to catastrophe (and how people's daily lives can impact the system, even if we don't realize we can). You can find Ossi's University of Helsinki profile here: https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/ossi-ollinaho Ossi's works mentioned: Ollinaho, O. I., Pedlowski, M., & Kröger, M. (2022). Toxic turn in Brazilian agriculture? The political economy of pesticide legalisation in post-2016 Brazil. Third World Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2022.2153031 Ollinaho, O., & Kröger, M. (2021). Agroforestry transitions: The good, the bad and the ugly. Journal of Rural Studies, 82, 210-221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.01.016 Ollinaho, O. (2022). What is ‘business as usual'? Towards a theory of cumulative sociomaterial change. Globalizations. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2022.2142013 Ollinaho, O. I. (2018). Virtualization of the life-world. Human Studies, 41(2), 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-017-9455-3 Other works mentioned Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1991). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Penguin Books. The International Alfred Schutz Circle for Phenomenology and Interpretive Social Science - https://www.schutzcircle.org/ *Note - apologies for the delay in the episode release! The episode was scheduled to launch on August 25, but for some reason the system did not release the episode. Unfortunately we have been really busy and it was only just now brought to our attention. Apologies again and we will be double checking in the future to make sure it launches on time! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are thrilled to be joined by Eija Ranta, University Lecturer at University of Helsinki in Global Development Studies. Eija leads two Academy of Finland research projects, 'Social Justice and Raciality in Latin America' (2021-2026) and 'Citizenship Utopias in the Global South: The Pursuit of Transformative Alternatives in Times of Disillusionment' (2019-2023). Eija's current focus is on societal activism and particularly how people can live a good and decent life in the face of socio-political and environmental challenges. She shares with us how she got started working in Latin America and specifically with the Quechua Indigenous peoples of Bolivia. This is where she encountered the concept of Sumak kawsay, which translates from the Kichwa language into English as ‘good life' or ‘life in harmony'. This concept also served to influence the Spanish concept of Buen Vivir or Vivir Buen. Eija traces out the political changes in Bolivia in relation to the adoption of Vivir Buen. We explore the tensions and contractions that exist in Bolivia through the lens of extractivism, often the on-the-ground practices are not in line with the espoused ideals. If you are interested in Eija's projects and writing, please check out her University of Helsinki profile here. https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/eija-ranta  Our apologies in advance for some of the challenges, particularly with Sophia's sound quality. Due to work, fieldwork, and family – we were on three different continents (and in 4 hemispheres!) during this recording.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we were honored to be joined by Toni Ruuska, who is a University Researcher and Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Economy at the University of Helsinki. His research focuses generally on alternatives to capitalism, agrarian political economy, and the skills of self-provisioning. In this captivating conversation, Toni lays out some of the issues with the perpetual growth model that is part and parcel of capitalist systems. Endless growth and accumulation are a nightmare; however, degrowth is not a silver bullet to solve the wicked problems present within the capitalist system. This is not to say that degrowth is not useful or hopeful, rather it is too early to really judge. Mentioned books and links: Degrowth Movement - https://degrowth.info/en The case for degrowth - https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Case+for+Degrowth-p-9781509535620 Future is degrowth - https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2620-the-future-is-degrowth Less is more - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/441772/less-is-more-by-jason-hickel/9781786091215 Degrowth & Strategy - https://mayflybooks.org/degrowth-strategy/ 9th International Degrowth Conference website - https://odrast.hr/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we go back to Zambia for an enlightening conversation with Kumbutso Phiri, a development specialist. Kumbutso works with a wide range of topics, but in this conversation, we explore the topic of street kids who live on the streets of Lusaka, Zambia's capital city. Kumbutso gives us insight into the demographics and societal infrastructure of the street kid population. While the exact number of street kids is difficult to estimate due to a lack of effective ways to definitively count them, Kumbusto believes the number is rising rapidly. This is a generational problem with many babies being born onto the street. Join us for this deep dive into the problems of urbanization, neo liberalization, and wider global pressures that are pushing and pulling people to the streets. If you are interested to learn more check out, “Walking the Bowl: A True Story of Murder and Survival Among the Street Children of Lusaka” by Chris Lockhart, Daniel Mulilo Chama --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month on the podcast we are really excited to try something new…by revisiting something old! Christopher and I open the podcast with a short chat and some life updates. Then we turn our attention to one of the first EXALT podcasts, “Exploring the Pluriverse” featuring Maria Ehrnstrom-Fuentes, an associate professor at Hanken School of Business. In this amazing conversation she explores themes of decoloniality, degrowth, and reflections on what researchers do and raises questions about how we should do it! Hope you all enjoy revisiting this conversation as much as we did! If you want to find out more about about Maria and her work here is a link to her researcher profile and publication list. Sophia is now working as the coordinator for Sustainability Science Days, which is co-organized by University of Helsinki and Aalto University. This exciting conference will be taking place on May 23-26, 2023. It will be in-person in Helsinki and there is a limited hybrid programme available on Zoom. There is no charge for joining us online, however registration is required. For more information about the programme, or to register, please visit www.sustainabilitysciencedays.fi --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are delighted to be joined by Patience Mususa from The Nordic Africa Institute. She is an anthropologist with a background in architecture working on mining and urbanization in Southern Africa. She is particularly interested in place and the ways in which people interact in the face of the large scale mining industry and the influence and ramifications of economic downturn and socio-economic transformation. In particular, she is interested in how space is produced, for example why we are so concerned with the idea of modernity and why we tend to use such energy intensive ways to produce place. She gave us insight into her research trajectory and how the different strands of her interests have come together. Part of her interest is rooted in the experience of growing up in a mining town in the Zambian Copperbelt in the height of corporate welfare industrialism and the ensuing changes stemming from the privatization of mining. Join us for this exciting conversation that gives insight into Zambian mining history, the changes that attend the modern era, and how sites of resource extraction are connected to areas of consumption through interlocking systems.  If you are interested to learn more about Patience's work, check out her academic profile (https://nai.uu.se/about-us/person/patience-mususa.html) Check out Patience's book There Used to be Order: Life on the Copperbelt after the Privatisation of the Zambia Consolidated Copper MInes (University of Michigan Press) (https://www.press.umich.edu/9441587/there_used_to_be_order)  Some of the resources mentioned during the episode: Expectations of Modernity by James Ferguson - Paperback - University of California Press (ucpress.edu) UW Press - : Red Gold of Africa: Copper in Precolonial History and Culture, Eugenia W. Herbert (wisc.edu) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are thrilled to be joined by University of Helsinki doctoral researcher Mariam Khawar. Mariam is in the Doctoral Programme in Political, Soci­etal and Regional Change, which is part of the Faculty of Social Sciences and is affiliated with Helsinki Centre for Global Political Economy. Mariam's work focuses on Islamic economic philosophy, specifically through a Marxist lens. Her work is highly interdisciplinary drawing on feminist political economy, economics, and feminism in Islamic theology and philosophy. She is working toward filling in gaps in the theoretical materials in that discipline. This work started during her master's studies at King's College London, where she made an analysis of Islamic banks during the 2007 financial crisis. We discuss the role of research within global capitalist banking and how her research is not about banking and finance. Rather Mariam focuses on the philosophical aspects of Islamic economics. She interrogates questions like what constitutes economic agents within Islamic economic philosophy. Within the conversation Mariam reminds us to think outside the box and to always be boldly interdisciplinary in academic work. If you would like to follow Mariam's work, check out her profile at University of Helsinki. Resources Ayubi, Z. (2019) Gendered morality: Classical Islamic ethics of the self, family, and society. New York: Columbia University Press. Cooper, C. & Jack, V. (2023) ‘Mind-boggling' profits for big oil puts tax hikes back on the agenda. POLITICO [online]. Available from: https://www.politico.eu/article/record-profits-big-oil-tax-hikes-war-ukraine-russia/ Graeber, D. & Wengrow, D. (2021) The Dawn of Everything: A new history of humanity. First American edition. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Hefner, R. W. (2006). Islamic economics and global capitalism. Society, 44(1), 16-22. Milanović, B. (2016) Global Inequality: A new approach for the age of globalization. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Wadud, A. (2015) ‘The Ethics of Tawhid over the Ethics of Qiwamah', in Men in charge? rethinking authority in Muslim legal tradition. p. 28. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are delighted to be joined by Barış Can Sever who is Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Sociology at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. He is currently doing a 9-month research period at Global Development Studies at the University of Helsinki. Barış gives us an exciting insight into the agricultural geography in Turkey, including pressure from changing socio/ecological systems and the increasing dependency on imports. There have been dramatic changes in the country's rural areas over the last 40 years, including the entrance of transnational corporations into the rural spaces and significant rural out migration. When analyzing the migration patterns, Barış is looking at more than just linear stories, but rather he looks at the relationality and overarching forces that reproduce injustices and inequality, which channels people into certain patterns. He gives us insight into the extractivist logics at play and what human scale agriculture could look like in the context of building a functioning and sustainable Anatolian countryside. Interested to check out more of Barış' work? https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Baris-Can-Sever --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This month on the pod we are delighted to be joined by Mariko Frame, who is Assistant Professor of Economics at Merrimack College in Massachusetts. Dr. Frame is a political economist who focuses on ecological imperialism, which occurs when one country subjugates another country by controlling the resources, politics, labour, military, and the very ideology or ways of worlding. This dynamic is often found between countries in the global North and global South due to the history of colonialism that underpins these relationships. Dr. Frame introduces the idea of ecologically unequal exchange and how that can help to empirically understand the inequalities between the global North and South. She uses this as a jumping off point to understand how, why these relationships are perpetuated and the power relations that drive them. While sometimes the outlook can be bleak, Dr. Frame reminds us to think about where your money is going and support the local environmental and Indigenous groups resisting the world-system in your local community. If you would like to engage with more of Dr. Frame's work, check out her new book from Routledge, Ecological Imperialism, Development, and the Capitalist World-System: Cases from Africa and Asia. If you would like to hear another great talk by Dr. Frame, check out her contribution to Global South Encounters from the Global South Theme of the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Development and the Environment. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are super excited to be joined again by friend of the podcast Alexander Dunlap, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo. This conversation is a high energy journey through Alexander's own trajectory into academic spaces, and the realities on the ground he has encountered in the course of his work. We talk about the violence that accompanies extractivism and reflect on direct impacts to those living at extractive frontiers. Unexpectedly, during the podcast recording there is a real-time reaction to a disappointing production mistake in an academic publication, where the most important word in a conclusion title of a large edited volume was deleted! This is an interesting insight into some of the behind the scenes struggles that academics encounter in trying to get their intellectual work communicated. Want to connect with Alexander? Find him on Twitter @DrX_ADunlap. Here is a list of the big resources that were discussed during the pod. Want to hear more of Alexander? Check out his earlier appearances on the EXALT Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/alexander-dunlap-is-green-energy-really-that-green/id1499621252?i=1000506999251 and https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/bonus-alexander-dunlap-what-is-the-world-eater/id1499621252?i=1000507806229. Renewing Destruction: Wind Energy Development, Conflict and Resistance in a Latin American Context by Alexander Dunlap https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786610652/Renewing-Destruction-Wind-Energy-Development-Conflict-and-Resistance-in-a-Latin-American-Context# The best link to the conclusion which was discussed: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363157987_Conclusion_A_call_to_action_toward_an_energy_research_insurrection Book chapter “Does Renewable Energy Exist? Fossil Fuel+ Technologies and the Search for Renewable ”: Energy: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354125885_Does_Renewable_Energy_Exist_Fossil_Fuel_Technologies_and_the_Search_for_Renewable_Energy Green Extractivism & Violent Conflict conference recordings https://blogs.helsinki.fi/exaltconference2021/green-extractivism-violent-conflict/ An early release pamphlet discussing ecological authoritarianism and Leninism: https://forged.noblogs.org/files/2022/10/dunlap-ecological-authoritarian-maneuvers.pdf To see more of Alexander's extensive body of work, see here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexander-Dunlap or here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=bXsLn9UAAAAJ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

Ksenija Hanaček is a researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona's Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA, UAB), Spain. Ksenija works for the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas). Recently, she has collaborated with Markus Kröger at the University of Helsinki, looking at extractive projects and resistance to extractive projects in the Arctic. We talked about extractive economies in the Arctic, particularly investments that are coming from outside the Arctic itself, in particular China. Ksenija told us about the Arctic Silk Road and the types of commodities that are being taken out of the Arctic. There is a huge variety in the types of resources that are being extracted from the Arctic—it is not only about oil and natural gas! Ksenija reminds us to continue to question the solutions that powerful actors suggest and to keep a critical eye out for the false solutions. Check out her bio at ICTA, UAB http://www.envjustice.org/2020/03/ksenija-hanacek/ Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas) https://ejatlas.org/ Correction note: Ksenija Hanaček would like to add a correction note to her answer about the Polar Silk Road (minute 10:39): Yamal LNG project and shipments via the sea transportation corridor "Polar Silk Road" are different from Yamal natural gas projects and distribution via pipeline system. Still, the commodity is extracted from many gas fields on the Yamal peninsula. All projects related to gas extraction and distribution are known as "the Yamal megaproject" (LNG or otherwise). --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This bonus episode of extractivism in pop culture is in honour of the three-year anniversary of the EXALT podcast. We are very excited to be joined again by Jesse Barber from the University of Helsinki Folklore Studies. In this bonus episode we explore J. R. R. Tolkien's series, Lord of the Rings (LoTR) and how it relates to themes like modernity, industrialism, capitalism, war, and of course extractivism. We talk across the various iterations of LoTRs, including the books, Peter Jackson's movie series, and the more recently released Amazon Prime series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which takes place in the same universe, but several thousands of years before the events depicted in the LoTRs books/movies. We are not experts, but we have all interacted with the LoTRs to differing degrees over a long period of time. We talk about how we got into the series, what they mean for us, and then relate them to themes in the realm of extractivism. So, if you have ever wanted to think about how the rise of Sauron relates to the rise of industrialism and how the Ents represent wider nature—then this episode is for you!! Disclaimer!!! This episode is full of spoilers—so if you are not already familiar with the Lord of the Rings universe and you do not want to know about the story—turn off the pod now!! Interested to learn more about the LoTRs? Check out this fandom page which lays it all out clearly. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This month on the podcast we are excited to present a conversation that is a bit outside our normal topics! This conversation is with Jesse Barber, a doctoral researcher in Folklore Studies in the Department of Cultures at the University of Helsinki. His research explores the continuity between pre-Christian Scandinavian religions and the folklore written later in Scandinavian countries. He specifically pays attention to similarities in cosmological timelines, i.e., conceptions of the past, present, and future of the world. He gives us some insight into the folklore itself, how it came to be, and what it says about the worldview. We explore how these myths and folk legends have had a role in developing a national cultural identity, and even in the process of nation building. We discuss the Christianization of Scandinavia and some of the trade reasons that the Kings of Scandinavia would be interested in imposing a top-down conversion. We even touch on these stories and their ultramodern adaptation (appropriation?) into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Check out Jesse's profile here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This month we were delighted to be joined by fellow University of Helsinki, Global Development Studies doctoral researcher, Usman Ashraf. Usman moved from the natural sciences to the social sciences and his research focuses on Chinese investment in Pakistan's forestry sector. In particular we talked about the Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation project and the subsequent 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation project. We touched on the landscape changes that attend this kind of project and the impacts that these projects have on the human and other than human beings in the affected areas. He gives us insight into how the implementation of the plantations this project has specifically impacted the herding families in the area and other landless families. Our conversation undercovers the political implications of this “environmental” project and how the current narratives/processes are historically connected. Find and connect with Usman on Twitter @PEusman Usman's recommended reading The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis by Amitav Ghosh (University of Chicago Press) Check out the IIED Country report Usman recently wrote on this project. Ashraf, U. (2022) 'Participation and Exclusion in Mega Tree-planting Projects: A Case Study of the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Pakistan,' London: IIED. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/17511 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are excited to present an in-depth conversation with Professor Sérgio Sauer, who works at University of Brasilia in Brazil and is a visiting scholar at University of Helsinki in Finland. We explored the landscape of land struggles in Brazil and how extractivism and social conflict has shaped Brazil. He started his career on the ground at an agricultural frontier and has worked extensively with the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) and questions of justice for rural inhabitants. Sérgio gives us a historically informed view of how Brazil's agricultural geography has developed over the last 60 years. In addition, he traces out the interplay of scholarship and activism and how this plays out in resistance to extractivism. You can also find Sérgio on Twitter @SergioSauerUnB, and please also check out the Observatório Matopiba. Sérgio recommends that if you are interested in the themes discussed in this episode to check out the film “The Burning Season”, which tell a story of real-life activist Chico Mendes, who was murdered in the 80s for his work. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This month we were joined by two exciting guests, Syed Mustafa Ali from The Open University in the UK and Dan McQuillan from Goldsmiths, University of London. They are both interested in AI, technology, and applying a critical lens to the development of digital infrastructures and applications. They met at the Histories of AI Seminar at Cambridge University and found common ground through what could be described as Luddite orientation. It was this connection over Luddism that brought them together to have a cup of coffee and share ideas and a bit of subversive thought about the history and trajectory of AI. This conversation teases out what Luddism is in a historical sense and how it continues to play out today. We talk about the physical extractivisms associated with the architecture and infrastructure of digital space and the mental and power relations of algorithmization. We explore the form of resistance and intervention to digital extractivisms and the rollout of layers of digital infrastructures that extend and expand the colonial project. Dan's book Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence will be release officially on July 15, 2022, preorder your copy today! Find and follow Dan (@danmcquillan) and Mustafa (@DrSyedMustafaA1) on Twitter --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message

This month we are thrilled to be joined by Tim Oakes, who is a Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is a human, social, and cultural geographer and his research focuses on Southwest China and the techno-political effects of infrastructural urbanism in China's ‘new area' urban zones. Needless to say, there have been a lot of developmental changes in China since Tim visited for the first time in the 1980s. Tim gives us insight into his career trajectory and his roots in rural geography and the ways in which the countryside has come into the 21st century. A huge facet of the countryside development is through infrastructure, and he realized that urbanization does not just happen in cities as urbanization occurs also in place. We explored many aspects of capitalist development and how it affects and is affected by the Chinese countryside. If you are interested to learn more about Tim's work, check out the website of the China Made project and his amazing keynote speech at the Finnish Society for Development Reseacher's Development Days Conference. You can also find Tim on Twitter @TS_Oakes. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exalt-initiative/message