ISRF Early Career Fellow 2018
ISRF Early Career Fellow 2018
Julien-François Gerber is an Assistant Professor at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. Before that, he was a faculty in Bhutan, in India, and a visiting fellow at Harvard University. He holds a PhD from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He works on the relationships between economic systems, ecological (un)sustainability, and the conditions for flourishing, alienation and resistance. He has published on the expansion of capitalism in the rural sphere, the property-credit nexus, popular environmentalism, (de)commodification, and post-growth/degrowth.
His ISRF project explores the nature of social movements against indebtedness and extractivism. Both phenomena have reached unparalleled levels worldwide. They are intimately linked with the growth-addiction of neoliberal capitalism, which relentlessly seeks new accumulation opportunities – both virtual (financial) and spatial (as in mining, logging and planting). Indebtedness and extractivism are also generating an increasing amount of resistance movements. How do these movements differ from ‘older’ economic conflicts such as land or labour struggles and to what extent do they embody ‘post-growth’ alternatives? The approach consists of analysing the largest possible number of case studies available in the literature. As very little research has been done on anti-debt movements, a new database will have to be compiled. In contrast, anti-extractive conflicts have been extensively documented but relatively poorly theorised.
Indebtedness and extractivism have reached unparalleled levels worldwide. The two phenomena are intimately associated with the growth-addiction of neoliberal capitalism, which relentlessly seeks new accumulation opportunities – both virtual (financial) and spatial (as in mining, logging and planting). Debt and extractive industries have generated massive socioeconomic and environmental destabilization, but also two major potentially counterbalancing forces: anti-debt and anti-extractive movements. The objective of this project is to draw from my previous research and work towards an integrated and global overview of these movements. What is the ‘new’ nature of these movements and how do they relate to each other? How do they differ from ‘older’ economic conflicts such as land or labour struggles? What actors, strategies and circumstances have generated the most successful movements? What alternatives do they embody? Do they lead to more sustainability? Some of these movements do not go beyond narrow local claims, while others have started to consider “post-growth” alternatives, a promising approach which links with recent work in ecological economics and political ecology. Instead of focusing on specific case studies, my methodological approach consists of analysing the largest possible number of case studies available in the academic, governmental and civil society literature. As very little research has been done on anti-debt movements, a new database will have to be compiled from scratch. In contrast, anti-extractive conflicts have been extensively documented in the Environmental Justice Atlas (www.ejatlat.org), a rich database to which I have contributed. However, the EJAtlas is still largely under-explored theoretically. Dialoguing with the works of anthropologist David Graeber, philosopher Maurizio Lazzarato and ecological economist Joan Martinez-Alier, this project will generate three academic articles and be expanded into a major book project. It will also produce analyses and bottom-up policy implications to be circulated among activists, practitioners and a wider public.
If you would like to contact any of our Fellows to discuss their ISRF-funded work, please contact Dr Lars Cornelissen (Academic Editor) in the first instance, at [email protected].