Join us on Wednesday, June 10th, from 17.30 hrs (German time) for the fourth RUSTLab lecture and the first special event at the Mining Museum Bochum of this summer term. Patrick Brodie will present his work on “From the Bog to the Cloud: Dependency and Eco-Modernity in Ireland”.
The green digital transition is underway. But what does this transition look like when dictated by the energy and resource demands of monopoly tech? How has this situation come to be? And where is it being resisted?
This provocative talk uncovers the hidden intersections of land, resource extraction and climate policy in the transition to “greener” and “smarter” economies. Challenging eco-modern and techno-solutionist approaches, the book links narratives of sustainability with colonial histories and uneven development, arguing that tech-driven transitions replicate exploitative patterns of imperial capitalism. Using Ireland as a focal point, the authors show how the history and depth of the country’s postcolonial dependency on multinational investment, especially US technology companies, comes into friction with disparate land-based struggles.
Thinking with these movements, the talk offers a critique of dependent models of development and proposes an anti-imperialist approach to environmental politics.
Patrick Brodie is Assistant Professor and Ad Astra Fellow in the School of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin.
Location: Mining Museum Bochum (Am Bergbaumuseum 28, 44791 Bochum) and Zoom
Zoom Link
PW: RUSTlab
You will find additional resources and information on this term’s guiding theme Scattered Grounds here on our website.