The Cultures of Resource Extraction: Past, Present, and Future
A Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN) Course hosted by The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad
August 22-26 2022
Venue: Online Synchronous
The intent of this course is to develop a through-going analysis of the culture and politics of planetary resource extraction.
Though resource extraction has been a central, organizing dynamic of the human experience, only recently have scholars begun to bring into focus the significance of extraction as a fundamental mechanism through which power is exerted and disparities of wealth and opportunity generated.
With an emphasis on Canada and India—two (post)colonial spaces with distinct if intertwined histories of extraction—this course will provide participants with the conceptual tools to re-imagine and re-narrate the social and cultural experiences of colonialism, postcolonialism, globalization, and neoliberalism through the lens of extraction.
Faculty

Imre Szeman
Imre Szeman is University Research Chair of Environmental Communication at the University of Waterloo and co-founder of the Petrocultures Research Group, which explores the socio-cultural dimensions of energy use and its implications for energy transition and climate change.

Aalok Khandekar
Aalok Khandekar is Assistant Professor of Anthropology/ Sociology at the Department of Liberal Arts at Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad and Editor-in-Chief of Engaging Science, Technology, and Society (ESTS), the open access journal of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S).

Swaralipi Nandi
Swaralipi Nandi is Assistant Professor of English at Loyola Academy, Hyderabad. She is the co-editor of Spectacles of Blood: A Study of Masculinity and Violence in Postcolonial Films and Oil Fictions: World Literature and Our Contemporary Petrosphere.
Schedule
Day 1: Introducing Resources
Lecture 1: What is Resource Extraction?
Lecture 2: Cultures of Extraction
1
Day 2: Colonialism and the Resources
Lecture 3: Extraction in the Indian Empire
Lecture 4: Extraction in the New World
2
Day 3: The Globalization of Extraction
Lecture 5: Experiencing Extraction
Lecture 6: Extraction Zones Around the World
3
Day 4: The End(s) of Extraction
Lecture 7: Imagining Resource Crisis
Lecture 8: After Extraction?
4
Day 5: Assessment Day: Imagining the Future
5
Objectives
- Engage participants in a thorough-going analysis of the culture and politics surrounding resource extraction, including key concepts and theories.
- Provide participants with an opportunity to consider the implications of resource extraction on the distinct (if intertwined) histories of Canada and India.
- Enable participants to actively shape and expand their own research projects in relation to the information received over the course of study.
- Give participants added capacity to explore ideas, objects and/or events in a sustained, substantive, sophisticated, and insightful manner through tutorials designed to produce active and engaged involvement in course materials.
Registration Information
Venue: Online Synchronous
This course is intended for M.A. and Ph.D. students, as well as early career researchers.
The participation fee for joining this course is as follows:
IITH Student and Faculty | Free |
Students at Loyola Academy | Free |
Students and Independent Scholars | INR 1,000 |
Individuals based in Non-Profit Organizations | INR 2,000 + 18% GST = INR 2,360 |
Individuals based in for-profit organizations | INR 5,000 + 18% GST = INR 5,900 |
Other Participants | INR 2000 |
Academic Institutions | INR 10,000 |
Private Institutions | INR 30,000 |
Participants Outside India | INR 10,000 + 18% GST = INR 11,800 |
Register Now
Register for the GIAN Course, Cultures of Resource Extraction: Past, Present, and Future!
Register Now