The panel discussion will focus on the links between Colonialism and Climate Change and how history impacts the world we live. Countries that emerged from exploitative colonial activities and agricultural practices are often those that are experiencing the greater effects of climate change, especially extreme weather events. Nonetheless, climate colonialism continues through the exploitation of resources of the Global South with further environmental and social consequences.
This discussion will be chaired by Dr Sujata Visaria (Bayes Business School), who is a member of the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment of the CGIAR (2021-24), and associate editor at the Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization (2023-24), and at the Asian Development Review (2023-25).
The event will be hosted by Malla Pratt, Director for Racial Equity and Inclusion, and introduced by, Professor Andre Spicer, Dean of Bayes Business School.
This event will be followed by a drinks reception.
About the Craft Lecture Series
Our Craft lecture series is a space to reflect on topics of inequality and social justice. Through an annual lecture Bayes invites the audience to explore the context of different historical power dynamics and consider how we, as a society, deal with the consequences of colonialism and engage in initiatives towards a sustainable future.
This lecture series celebrates the achievements of Ellen and William Craft, as representatives of those who globally fought against the slave trade. The Crafts were freedom fighters – refugees from slavery who became campaigners for its abolition. A black married couple, Ellen and William were both born into slavery in Georgia in the 1820s but managed to flee to England in 1850. In 1860 they produced an account of their daring escape entitled “Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom”. The Crafts returned to Boston in 1869, after the US Civil War had ended, and set up a school for the newly freed.
Speaker Profiles
Malla Pratt - Director for Racial Equity and Inclusion at Bayes Business School. In 2020 Malla co-chaired BAME Consultative report that helped provide the school with a road map to improving race equity, she was later appointed as Director of Racial Equity and Inclusion.
Clive Lewis (MP) – Clive Lewis was elected as the Member of Parliament for Norwich South and is known for his commitment to social justice, climate action, and democratic reform. He was Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (2016) and Business, Energy, & Industrial Strategy (2016-17). In 2019, Clive tabled ‘Green New Deal’ bill with Caroline Lucas. Clive has been campaigning for Caribbean slavery reparations and has held positions on the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee and as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Race and Community.
Professor Gurminder K Bhambra - Professor of Historical Sociology at the University of Sussex. She is co-author of Colonialism and Modern Social Theory (with John Holmwood), and author of Connected Sociologies, and the award-winning Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination. She is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, and the Academy of Social Sciences; and has been President of the British Sociological Association. She runs the Global Social Theory site, is co-editor of Discover Society, and directs the Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project. Her co-authored article with Pete Newell addresses how colonialism should be understood as more than a metaphor in climate change debates.
Dr Leon Sealey-Huggins - Senior Campaigner in Global Climate Justice at War on Want and Assistant Professor of Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick. He was Lead Researcher and co-founder of Breathe, Community Organising for Climate Justice. His scholarship and activism focus on climate justice, and addresses how societies must co-create as we face up to climate breakdown. Leon considers the sociology and politics of the climate crisis, by investigating the meaning of climate justice in the context of global historical, and present, inequalities.
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