Worlds of Lithium at EASA 2024

A strong representation of the Worlds of Lithium team was present at the 18th Biennial Conference of EASA. Postdoctoral researcher Pablo Ampuero-Ruiz joined panel P090 titled 'Future Matters: Urban Transformations between Utopia and Dystopia'. His presentation 'Smart Futures: Green Urban Mobility and Property Regimes in a Socialist Dystopia' explored how the the expansion of smart technologies relates to social disempowerment and urban transformation in the New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) market in China, showing how the promise of smart futures fosters the technological control over society by NEV producers and city authorities. In panel P217 'Life after Oil? Undoing the Contradictions of the Energy Transition' (hosted by the Environmental Anthropology Network), our PhD candidate Michelle Geraerts delived her presentation '"New Oil" adn Circular Tensions: Following the Afterlife of Electric Car Batteries in Norway's Green Mobility Shift'. Michelle presented part of his work on an industrial area that is known for its 'clean' processes and its proximity to a nature reserve, showing how situating the circular economy makes us think about messy environments and relations. Finally, affiliated member and PhD candidate Mariana Riquito participated in Panel P166 'Extractive Politics and Ecofeminism' with her presentation 'Ecofeminist Resistance in Barroso: Embodying Communitarian, Ancestral, and Place-based Practices against a Prospective Lithium Mine'. In it, Mariana examined local resistance ot lithium mining, revealing how communitarian practices challenge extractivist norms. She emphasised women's pivotal role in resisting and nurturing intimate connections between people and their more-than-human worlds.