“There is nothing new
under the sun,
but there are new suns.”
-Octavia Butler, Parable of the Trickster
We are excited to announce that the guiding idea of the Twelfth Annual Dimensions of Political Ecology (DOPE) Conference will be “Radical Imaginings & EcoFuturisms.” DOPE12 will take place Thursday, March 24 - Saturday, March 26, 2022.
When thinking of potential themes for this year’s conference, the DOPE12 organizers wanted to put forth an open-ended guiding idea rather than a binding theme. This means we will be once again accepting papers, workshops, panels, roundtables, reading groups, teach-ins, and other creative forms of engagement from across the spectra of political ecology.
We, like you, are writing, working, and living in the midst of interlocking and acute emergencies, from COVID-19 to the climate crisis. To say we’re on the precipice of ecological, social, and political collapse would be an understatement, as the catastrophe arrived long ago (Whyte 2017). Last year, the DOPE organizing collective sought to prioritize rest and restoration in the face of an emergent global health crisis in which we still live and work. Now, we look to critical visions of what may be made possible within and around political-ecological critiques.
In talking about imagination and futures, we do not mean linear progress narratives, simple technofixes for complex crises, or billionaires dreaming up space colonies. Instead, for DOPE12, we seek to foreground scholarship, activism, and art that radically envisions different, more hopeful, more abundant futures. Ones that may or may not be known, mapped, or closely planned, but take shape in the praxis of here and now. We ask what comes next? For whom? By whom? With whom?
We hope this guiding idea inspires a conference full of imaginings for ecologically just and abundant futures (Collard et al. 2015). We also recognize that at this time our ability to hold a completely in-person conference is uncertain. We are continuously and cautiously monitoring COVID-19, the Delta variant, and all other variants. Therefore, we are currently planning a primarily virtual conference and are considering what in-person components can be included. We will make the announcement regarding in-person components in early January 2022.
Information and details on DOPE12’s conference structure, reading groups, and speakers will be announced in early September. Sign up for the DOPE listserv HERE.
“You got to make your own worlds. You got to write yourself in.” -Octavia Butler, Interview
“Yes, I aspired to dominate in a world that oppressed me. But now I need antennae for a world I can’t imagine.” -Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Undrowned
“Abolition requires that we change one thing: everything.” -Ruthie Gilmore, Change Everything