Capitalism / Socialism / Democracy
CAPITALISM / SOCIALISM / DEMOCRACY is an initiative that invites scholars to present work on democracy as it relates to capitalist, socialist, or other economic ideologies. It seeks to address the intellectual and political question of whether any discussion of democracy lacks reality if not connected to fundamental issues of economic organization. While some recognize commerce and markets as essential contributors, for good or ill, to the health of democratic societies, others ask whether we there are ways to remake our material lives that maintain, or even enhance, democratic participation.
Past Events
The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them, with Aziz Rana
133 S 36th Street, Room 250 (the Forum)
Forever Unequal? Gender and LGBTQ in Japan, Present and Future
Virtual Event, Zoom
Click here to register: https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwlfuqsrTMiEt2PGTfVydxCFdK_mxX9…
Forever Displaced? Refugees and Forced Migrants in Japan, Past and Present
Online, Zoom Event
Register here: https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUvd-qqqjosHNzgDCdHdl5mRCh68u_C…
Russia Before and After the Invasion of Ukraine
PCPSE 250 (the Forum)
Online Event. Zoom link sent to registered attendees.
View the video of the event here.
As part of the Mitchell Center's Capitalism/Socialism/Democracy Series, you are invited to join THEA RIOFRANCOS for an in-depth conversation about environmentalism in an age of extraction. Drawing on Riofrancos's recent work on the mining of lithium — an essential component of electric batteries for electric vehicles — this conversation asks difficult questions about battery supply chains, which cause degradation of biodiversity and water systems in the Global South. As Riofrancos also shows, however, the lithium frontier is expanding and mutating, with new projects being proposed — and protest against them erupting — in the Global North as well. She will also discuss her work on lithium extraction in Chile, the US, and Europe, and oil and mining in Ecuador, reframing the radical politics that arises out of the politicization of anti-extraction. Instead of accepting common narratives of tensions between labor movements, Indigenous resistance, and other liberatory politics, Riofrancos gives us a wider picture of how truly global climate justice takes Indigenous sovereignty, environmental policy, and transit justice into account. Ultimately, she shows that we can achieve zero emissions mobility while also reducing demand for harmful mining. Moderated by M. EDITH SKLAROFF.
THEA RIOFRANCOS is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2020-2022), and a member of the Climate + Community Project.
Remapping Climate Justice: Lithium, Extractivism, and Going Green in the Global North (Thea Riofrancos)
Online Event. Zoom link sent to registered attendees.
View the video of the event here.
As part of the Mitchell Center's Capitalism/Socialism/Democracy Series, you are invited to join THEA RIOFRANCOS for an in-depth conversation about environmentalism in an age of extraction. Drawing on Riofrancos's recent work on the mining of lithium — an essential component of electric batteries for electric vehicles — this conversation asks difficult questions about battery supply chains, which cause degradation of biodiversity and water systems in the Global South. As Riofrancos also shows, however, the lithium frontier is expanding and mutating, with new projects being proposed — and protest against them erupting — in the Global North as well. She will also discuss her work on lithium extraction in Chile, the US, and Europe, and oil and mining in Ecuador, reframing the radical politics that arises out of the politicization of anti-extraction. Instead of accepting common narratives of tensions between labor movements, Indigenous resistance, and other liberatory politics, Riofrancos gives us a wider picture of how truly global climate justice takes Indigenous sovereignty, environmental policy, and transit justice into account. Ultimately, she shows that we can achieve zero emissions mobility while also reducing demand for harmful mining. Moderated by M. EDITH SKLAROFF.
THEA RIOFRANCOS is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2020-2022), and a member of the Climate + Community Project.
