Keynote lecture: Grettel Navas, Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad de Chile; Paul Lazarsfeld Visiting Professorship at the University of Vienna

Introduction: Ulrich Brand, Research Group Latin America, University of Vienna
Comments: Valerie Lenikus, Research Group Latin America, University of Vienna; Herbert Wasserbauer, DKA Austria
Facilitation: Karin Küblböck, ÖFSE

We kindly ask to register by 10^th November 2025: Ingrid.fankhauser@univie.ac.at

This conference examines environmental conflicts related to agrarian and mining extractivism in Latin America, with a particular focus on Central America and Chile. It asks: Why do environmental conflicts emerge—and why do they sometimes not? What can these conflicts reveal about socio-environmental inequalities across the region? And how are local communities organizing to resist them? Drawing on Political Ecology and Marxist perspectives, the analysis conceptualizes extractivism as a mode of accumulation that exposes the violence embedded in dominant forms of production—what is extracted, how, and at what cost. It reflects on the temporal dimensions of extractivism, emphasizing how environmental change is co-produced by asymmetrical power relations and shaped by colonial and historical legacies of resource extraction. Environmental conflicts are defined here as collective mobilizations against perceived social and ecological harms derived from extractive or development projects. These conflicts entail struggles over access to, control of, and the meaning attributed to natural resources. Rather than treating them as isolated incidents to be managed or contained, this conference views environmental conflicts as arenas of social transformation that illuminate the structural conditions of inequality from which they arise.

Grettel Navas is a political ecologist specializing in toxic pollution, public policy, and environmental justice. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the School of Government, University of Chile (Santiago, Chile). During November 2025 she will be Paul Lazarsfeld Visiting Professorship at the Faculty of Social Sciences in the area of International Politics / Research Group Latin America. Grettel Navas earned her PhD at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where she was part of the ENVJustice project (ERC-GA 69544). She also holds a Master’s degree in Socio-Environmental Studies from FLACSO-Ecuador and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the National University of Costa Rica. Grettel is an active member of the Latin American Political Ecology Group (CLACSO–Abya Yala) and serves on the leadership and coordination team of the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas), a global initiative documenting environmental conflicts and resistance movements. In her talk “Landscapes of Extractivism and Resistance,” she will reflect on her long-standing fieldwork in Central America and her more recent research in Chile

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Ulrich Brand is Professor of International Politics at the Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna with a focus on Global Environmental Governance. He is head of the Research Group Latin America and chairman of supervisory board of the Austrian Foundation for Development Research ÖFSE.

Karin Küblböck is senior researcher at the Austrian Foundation for Development Research ÖFSE, with a focus on international resource policies and stakeholder engagement.

Valerie Lenikus is senior scientist at the Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna, with a focus on political ecology, agrarian extractivism and socio-ecological conflicts, with a regional focus on Latin America.

Herbert Wasserbauer is a policy officer at DKA Austria. He focuses on resource policy and mining in the Global South and supports related projects in Latin America. Within the AG Rohstoffe (Alliance on Raw Materials), DKA collaborates with other NGOs to advocate for human rights–based and sustainable resource policies.

This event has been organized by the Research Group Latin America, University of Vienna in cooperation with Österreichische Forschungsstiftung für Internationale Entwicklung ÖFSE – and Österreichisches Lateinamerika Institut LAI