Booking is now open for the second event in a ESRC-funded seminar series, “Sustainability Transition”, University of Leicester, Friday 14th October (10.00 - 17.30).  Organisers, Gavin Brown and Jenny Pickerill, University of Leicester.

The event is free, and lunch is provided: but a place must be reserved in advance.  Please contact Gavin Brown ([log in to unmask])

A limited number of travel/accommodation bursaries are available for postgraduate / unwaged participants or people without access to funding for such activity which are available on a first come, first served basis.  To request a bursary please contact Jenny Pickerill ([log in to unmask]) specifying your status and (briefly) the reasons for your request.

The Seminar Series

The ESRC is funding a seminar series that explores sustainability transitions (projected processes of social change to sustainable patterns of production and consumption) from explicitly social, political and economic perspectives. It examines the impact of preparing for sustainability transitions on people’s everyday lives and livelihoods and considers the role of grassroots political actors in shaping these transitions. It explores and critiques theories of transition from the specific perspective of the social; aiming to build bridges to relevant social theory and social science disciplines. The series will also explore the interrelationships between theory and practice and how they inform and shape one another.

Seminar Two: Identities Transition

This seminar starts from the premise that many of the identities that individuals claim for themselves today in the Global North have been shaped by consumption practices fuelled by the high carbon economy. For example, contemporary class-based identities arise out of a (gendered and racialised) division of labour forged in the context of an oil fuelled economy and consumption practices.  This is witnessed in the specific consumption practices, values, lifestyles and modes of interpersonal relationships that are so central to the formation and reproduction of various class fractions, youth cultures, masculinities and femininities, ethnicities and contemporary LGBTQ identities.  Indeed, identity politics is a phenomena specific to the cultures of high consumption in the contemporary world.  We also know that there are links between poverty, racism and gender inequalities and the people most likely to experience the most detrimental impacts of climate change and resource scarcity. This workshop explores the role of the high carbon economy in shaping these social identities and questions how they might be reconfigured through the process of transition to a sustainable, low carbon future.

Speakers include:
* Robyn Dowling, Environment & Geography, Macquarie University, Australia
* Jon Anderson, City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University
* Jill Fisher, Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development, De Montfort University
* Michelle Bastian, Transition Liverpool
* Shumaisa Khan, Wisdom in Nature
* Joseph De Lappe, Educational Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London 

The seminar will combine academic papers, panel discussions and interactive workshops.


There will be a meal available afterwards at your own cost.

Location: University of Leicester – walking distance from Leicester rail station.

Accommodation:  we would recommend The Spindle Lodge:
www.spindlelodge.co.uk/

or you can find other options here.
www.booking.com/Leicester

Please inform us of any special requirements (eg. dietary, access etc.). We will do our best to address these:

The seminar series has a dedicated website to facilitate as wide and open exchange of ideas and information as possible.

http://sustainabilitytransitions.info/

If you would like to join this discussion, tell us a bit about yourself when you book your place and log onto our googlegroup discussion.

We look forward to welcoming you to Leicester in October!


Dr Gavin Brown
Lecturer in Human Geography
Department of Geography
F57, Bennett Building
University of Leicester
Leicester LE1 7RH

Tel.: 0116 252 3858

Staff profile: http://www.le.ac.uk/gg/staff/academic_brown.html
Research blogs:  http://nonstopagainstapartheid.wordpress.com/  
                         http://placeofaspirations.wordpress.com
ESRC Seminar Series: http://www.sustainabilitytransitions.info     
 
Chair of the Space, Sexualities and Queer Research Group of the RGS-IBG: www.ssqrg.net