The Political Ecology of Work in Times of Disaster

Linz/Upper Austria, 22–24 September 2022

The 2022 ITH conference takes from the present epidemiological crisis to reflect on other times of disaster and their implications for workers, organised labour and labour relations. This includes ecological disasters like earthquakes, floods or droughts; technological disasters such as Fukushima in 2011 or the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984; medical crises like epidemics or pandemics, such as the Black Death, the post-World War One influenza pandemic and the current Covid-19 pandemic.

How well societies prepare for, cope with or recover from disasters is determined by their social, political, economic and cultural vulnerability and their capacity to absorb these shocks (their resilience). At the ITH conference 2022 we focus on how labour was affected by and dealt with disasters in both a long-term and short-term perspective. We approach this topic through the lens of political ecology, i.e. we take the viewpoint of both environmental history and Marxist political economy.

TIME SCHEDULE

Submission of proposals:                              31 January 2022

Notification of acceptance:                            28 February 2022

Full papers or presentation version:             15 August 2022

Please send your proposals (max. 300 words) and a biographical note (max. 200 words) to our conference manager Laurin Blecha: conference@ith.or.at