Past events:
————————————————-
2 0 1 6
28 August – 1 September, Monte Vérita, Switzerland. Invited presentation at international workshop on Resource frontiers as primary zones of biodiversity loss.
7-9 July 2016, Wageningen, The Netherlands: Political Ecologies of Conflict, Capitalism and Contestation international conference, the First POLLEN conference. Click here for more information.
29 June 2016 Cologne, Germany. Crisis conservation: resource extraction, wildlife crime and the violent frontiers of saving nature. Invited public lecture at Cologne University, .
23-24 June 2016, Cambridge, UK. Invited presentation at Rights to Nature: tracing alternative political ecologies to the neoliberal environmental agenda, University of Cambridge.
26 May 2016, Auckland, New Zealand. Invited presentation at Auckland University.
24 May 2016, Wellington, New Zealand. Life and Capital: Development and Change in the 21st Keynote presentation at New Trajectories in Development workshop, Victoria University Wellington.
12 April, Aberdeen, UK. Reassessing Fortress Conservation: New Media and the Politics of Distinction in Kruger National Park. Invited seminar at Aberdeen University, 12 April, Aberdeen, UK.
24 February 2016, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Crisis Conservation: Saving Nature in Times and Spaces of Exception. ‘Diálogos no PGDR’ seminar, promoted by GEPAD + TEMAS research groups, University of Rio Grande Do Sul, 24 February 2016, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
23 February 2016, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Green Violence: Saving Nature in Times and Spaces of Exception. Invited presentation at University of Sao Paulo.
2 0 1 5
9-11 December, Olou, Finland: Seminar at the University of Olou, Olou, Finland.
3 December, Wageningen, The Netherlands: Life and Capital: Development and Change in the 21st Century. Inaugural Address as Professor Sociology of Development and Change, Wageningen University, Wageningen The Netherlands.
18-20 November, Dublin, Ireland: Life and Capital: Development and Transformative Change in the 21st Century. Keynote address at the Development Studies Association Ireland annual Conference 2015 Transformative Change? The Role of Evidence Based Research and Measurements in Global Development. 18-20 November, Dublin, Ireland.
8-10 July, Utrecht, the Netherlands. Reassessing Fortress Conservation: New Media and the Politics of Distinction in Kruger National Park. Paper presentation at ‘Grabbing Nature to Save It: appropriating land for nature conservation’, panel organized by Robert Fletcher and Marja Spierenburg, LANDac conference.
16-19 June, London, UK. “Rhino poaching is out of control!” Violence, Heroes and the Politics of Hysteria in online Conservation. Paper presentation at British International Studies Association.
24-30 May 2015, Aosta Valley, Italy – Nature 2.0: Social Media, Online Activism and the cyberpolitics of Environmental Conservation writeshop, together with Jim Igoe, Libby Lunstrum, Ingrid Nelson, Jim Stinson, Robert Fletcher, Stasja Koot, Roberta Hawkins, Brett Matulis, Melissa Checker, Eli Typhina and Citt Williams. Plan del la Tour, Aosta Valley, Italy.
19 May 2015, London, UK. Shoot to kill: wildlife crime, spaces of exception and the state in southern Africa. Invited presentation at Environmental Crime? Poaching, Security and the Illegal Wildlife Trade, international symposium, organised by Professor Rosaleen Duffy, SOAS, University of London.
21-25 April, Chicago, USA. “Rhino poaching is out of control!” Violence, Heroes and the Politics of Hysteria in online Conservation. Paper presentation at American Geographers conference (AAG).
10-12 April, Chicago, USA. Distinguished speaker invitation, ‘Fragile World: Ecology and the Church’, 7th annual World Catholicism Week. Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology (CWCIT), DePaul University.
2 April, Leiden, the Netherlands. Reassessing fortress conservation? New media and the politics of distinction in Kruger National Park. Seminar at the African Studies Centre Seminar series, ASC, Leiden.
19 -20 March, Sussex, UK. Invited member of the roundtable at the workshop ‘Critical Perspectives on the Financialisation of Nature – Theory, Politics and Practice’, University of Sussex.
19 February, Antwerp, Belgium. Global Environmental Politics and the Political Economy of Conservation. Guest Lecture at University of Antwerp.
29-30 January, Copenhagen, Denmark. Reassessing Fortress Conservation: new media and the politics of distinction in Kruger National Park. Paper to be presented at the workshop (Un)Common Enclosures, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.
6-7 January, Oxford, UK. Valuing natural capital: solving a problem with the same logic that created it? Invited Speaker, ‘Values and Functions of Biodiversity’, Biosymposium, Biodiversity Institute, Oxford University.
2 0 1 4
10-11 December, Oslo Litteraturhuset, Oslo, Norway. Novel fractures in the fortress: new media and the politics of distinction in Kruger National Park. Paper to be presented at the ‘Political Ecologies of the Green Economy’, international workshop.
20-21 November, Melbourne, Australia. Green Violence: Rhino Poaching and the War to Save Southern Africa’s Peace Parks. Seminar in Critical Development Geography on ‘Constructing and Confronting the ‘Environmental Crisis’ in the 21st Century, University of Melbourne.
10-20 November 2014, Sydney, Australia. With Rosaleen Duffy and Dan Brockington. The Role of Protected Areas and Conservation in “who controls the Green Economy”. Poster presentation at the World Parks Congress.
5 November, Manchester, UK. Green Violence: Rhino Poaching and the War to Save Southern Africa’s Peace Parks. Global Political Economy Seminar Series, Department of Political Science, University of Manchester.
4 November, London, UK. Green Violence: Rhino Poaching and the War to Save Southern Africa’s Peace Parks. SOAS, University of London.
9-10 September, Lancaster, UK. Invited paper presentation at Political Ecology and Development: Resources, Power and Justice conference, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, 9-10 September, Lancaster, UK.
3-6 August, Bern Switzerland. Resource person at the Global Environmental Summer Academy, Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, 3-6 August, Bern, Switzerland.
8 May, Stellenbosch University. ‘I 
Nature’: Web 2.0, Social Media and the Political Economy of Conservation. Invited ‘Wednesday seminar’ at Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology seminar series, Stellenbosch University, 8 May 2014, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
25 April, Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu Natal. ‘I Nature’: Web 2.0, Social Media and the Political Economy of Conservation. Invited seminar at the Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu Natal, 25 April 2014, Durban, South Africa
9 April, University of Johannesburg. ‘I Nature’: Web 2.0, Social Media and the Political Economy of Conservation. Invited ‘Wednesday seminar’ at University of Johannesburg, 9 April 2014, Johannesburg, South Africa.
26 February, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo. Valuing natural capital: solving a problem with the same logic that created it? Invited presentation at the ‘Valuing Natural Capital public dialogue’, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, 26 February, Johannesburg, South Africa.
2 0 1 3
11 December, Tallin, Estonia. Getting Rich while Saving Nature? The politics of ‘Neoliberal Conservation’. Invited lecture at the ‘studia generalia’ lecture series, 11 December, Tallinn University, Estonia. See video of the lecture here.
27 November 2013, Frankfurt, Germany. The Logic of the ‘Green Economy’ or the Emergence of ‘Fictitious Conservation’. Invited seminar, Economization of Nature lecture series, Department of Human Geography, Goethe University, 27 November Frankfurt, Germany.
1 November, Edinburg, UK. ‘I Nature’: Web 2.0, Social Media and the Political Economy of Conservation. Invited seminar at Human Geography seminar series, University of Edinburgh, 1 November, Edinburgh, UK.
17 October, London, UK. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Invited seminar at SOAS, University of London, 17 October, London, UK.
16 October, Brighton, UK. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. STEPS Seminar at IDS, University of Sussex, 16 October, Brighton, UK.
3 October, Clark University, Worcester, USA. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate, 3 October, Department of Geography, Clark, Worcester, USA.
2 October, Mount Holyoke, USA. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate, 2 October, Mount Holyoke College Miller Worley Center for the Environment, Springfield, USA.
1 October, Durham, Duke University, USA. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate, 1 October, Duke University, Durham, USA.
26 September, UC Berkeley, USA. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate, 26 September, University Press Books, University of California Berkeley, USA.
25 September, University of Victoria, Canada. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate, 25 September, Victoria University, Victoria, Canada
24 September, Willamette, Salem, USA. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate at Willamette University, 24 October, Salem, USA.
August, 2013, Torino, Italy. Nature 2.0: Theorizing New Media and Nature Conservation in a time of Capitalist Crises. Paper presented at 5RN18 – Sociology of Communications and Media Research, European Sociological Association, 28-31 August 2013, Torino, Italy.
7-9 August, Bern Switzerland. Resource person at the Global Environmental Summer Academy, Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, 7-9 August, Bern, Switzerland.
19 July, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate, 19 July, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
18 July, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate, 18 July, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa and book launch at Ike’s book, 48A Florida Road, Durban.
9-11 July 2013, ISS, The Hague. The Environmental Condition: Hannah Arendt and the Political Economy of Nature Conservation. Paper to be presented at IIPPE Fourth Annual Conference in Political Economy “Political Economy, Activism and Alternative Economic Strategies”, 9-11 July 2013, Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The Hague.
27-29 June 2013, Lissabon, Portugal. Connecting Spaces of Investment and Dispossession in the Southern African Political Economy of Energy. Paper to be presented at the 5th European conference on African Studies, ‘African Dynamics in a Mulitpolar World, 27-29 June 2013, Lissabon, Portugal.
30 May, University of Manchester, UK. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate at the Society and Environment Research Group of the University of Manchester, 30 May, Manchester, UK.
17 May – 19 May 2013,
University of Toronto, Canada. Vita Productio? Hannah Arendt and the Political Economy of Nature Conservation. Paper to be presented at Grabbing ‘Green’: Questioning the Green Economy, international conference 17 May – 19 May 2013,
University of Toronto, Canada.
17 May, Toronto, Canada. Transforming the Frontier. Peace Parks and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa. Book presentation and debate, Critical Border Studies Speaker Series together with University of Toronto and York University Geography departments, 17 May, Toronto, Canada
Environmental Studies Colloquium series: ‘Critical Engagements with the Green Economy’
Sixth colloquium: 2 May 2013
The Myths of the Green Economy: Six reasons why green growth doesn’t work
Speakers
Anneleen Kenis and Matthias Lievens, authors of ‘Mythe van de Groene Economie. Valstrik, Verzet, Alternatieven’
Programme
14:00 Coffee / tea
14:30 Presentation by Anneleen Kenis and Matthias Lievens
15:00 Responses by and panel discussion with Wiert Wiertsema (Senior Policy Advisor, Both Ends) and Frans Duijnhouwer (Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment)
15:45 Break
16:00 Discussion with the audience
9-13 April 2013, Los Angeles, USA – Nature 2.0. New Media and the Reimagining and Commodification of Nature Conservation. Paper to be presented at the American Association of Geographers Conference, 9-13 April, Los Angeles, USA.
3-6 April 2013, San Francisco, USA. Nature 2.0. New Media and the Reimagining and Commodification of Nature Conservation. Paper to be presented at ‘Emerging Forms of Biodiversity Governance’, panel organised by Prof. Rosaleen Duffy, at the International Studies Association annual convention, ‘The Politics of International Diffusion: Regional and Global Dimensions’, 3-6 April 2013, San Francisco, USA.
28 February 2013, Cape Town, South Africa: Nature 2.0: Theorizing the impact of Social Media and the ‘Web 2.0’ on Conservation in Southern Africa. Invited seminar at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape.
26 February 2013, Stellenbosch, South Africa: The Neoliberalisation of Nature in Africa. Invited lecture at the department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of Stellenbosch.
25 February 2013, Cape Town, South Africa: seminar at the department of Sociology, University of Cape Town. Title of the talk: ‘Prosuming’ Conservation? Web 2.0, Nature and the Intensification of Value-Producing Labour in Late Capitalism.
14 February 2013, Pretoria, South Africa: seminar at the department of Anthropology, University of Pretoria, 11:00 – 12:30. Title of the talk: ‘Prosuming’ Conservation? Web 2.0, Nature and the Intensification of Value-Producing Labour in Late Capitalism.
5 February 2013, Thohoyandou, South Africa: Peace Parks and the Politics of Conservation in Southern Africa. Invited public lecture at the University of Venda, South Africa.
————————————————-
2 0 1 2
————————————————-
I have been invited to speak at African Environments: What is Social-Ecological Resilience and how might we achieve it?,Oxford Brooks Symposium, 14 December, Oxford, UK. My presentation is entitled: The Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa and its implications for thinking about ‘Social Ecological Resilience’.
On 3 December 2012 I will speak a CREA session on green accounting/financialisation of nature, Crea, University of Amsterdam. My presentation is entitled: The Logic of the Green Economy and the Emergence of Fictitious Conservation.
I am honored to have been invited to present at the Cambridge Conservation Seminar series at the University of Cambridge. My seminar will be on 28 November 2012 from 5-6 pm and is entitled ‘Can the Ecological Crisis be averted by the same logic that created it?’. While in Cambridge, I will also give a political ecology seminar on a paper called ‘Prosuming Conservation’. Web 2.0, Nature and the Intensification of Value-producing Labour in Late Capitalism’.
On 7 November 2012, the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation will hold its Annual Symposium on the theme ‘International Conservation and Development: Bringing People and Wildlife Together‘. I am honored to have been invited to present my views on the topic, which I will do under the title: ‘Inverted Commons, Global Imaginations and the Neoliberalisation of Nature in Africa’.
From 12 – 14 September 2012, I will be in Grahamstown, South Africa to present a paper at the ‘Old Land New Practices?’ Conference. The paper is entitled: Nature 2.0: Theorizing the impact of New Media on the Commodification of Conservation in Africa.
Environmental Studies Colloquium series: ‘Critical Engagements with the Green Economy’ – third colloquium: 2 October 2012
The third in a series of three colloquia and one conference organized by the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Society for International Development Netherlands Chapter (SID), and HIVOS.
This third colloquium focuses on ‘Policy Interventions for a Green Economy: ‘True price’: putting a price on nature?’ and will feature Larry Lohmann ((The Corner House, UK) and Adrian de Groot-Ruiz (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) as speakers.
Logistical details: Date: Tuesday 2 October 2012/ Location: Aula B, ISS, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague / Time: 14:30-
17:00/ Language: English / Admission: Free / Please register through registration@sidnl.org
On 10-13 July 2013, I will speak during the 12th EASA Biennial Conference in Nanterre, France. The presentation will be on a paper entitled ‘Conceptualising lived experiences within the political economy of the Ecotourism/Extraction Nexus’. The paper will be presented at a workshop that I have organised with Veronica Davidov, entitled (Un)Comfortable Bedfellows? Exploring the contradictory natures of the Ecotourism/Extraction Nexus.
In June, the yearly CERES summer school always takes place, and this year, I will present something on my new research, a paper called ‘Nature 2.0: Theorizing the impact of New Media on the Commodification of Conservation in Africa’. The 2012 CERES Summer School is on the theme: ‘International Development Studies: A Challenge for the Future?’ and wil be held from 25 – 26 June 2012, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Environmental Studies Colloquium series: ‘Critical Engagements with the Green Economy’ – Second colloquium: 12 June 2012
The second in a series of three colloquia and one conference organized by the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Society for International Development Netherlands Chapter (SID), and HIVOS.
This second in a series of four colloquia will take ‘A critical gender lens on ‘greening’ the economy’ and launch of the book ‘Women Reclaiming Sustainable Livelihoods: spaces lost, spaces gained’ (edited Wendy Harcourt, published by Palgrave, London) with the support of Hivos. For more info, see: www.iss.nl/greeneconomy.
On 11 April 2012,I will speak at theSéminaire Gouverner le vivant – ” A new spirit of conservation ?” at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, France. The title of my talk:
‘Prosuming’ Conservation? Web 2.0, value-producing labour and the inverted commons of Africa’s nature in late capitalism
Abstract: Recent insights from critical social theory suggest that consumption and production co-constitute each other; a phenomenon referred to as ‘prosumption’. It is further suggested that contemporary prosumption dynamics could alter the form of capitalism. In this presentation, I argue that recent literature and research on the intersection between capitalism and nature conservation are highly relevant in engaging these claims. Predominantly but not solely through interactive web 2.0 applications, conservation organisations are increasingly drawing consumers into the production of conservation, thereby enabling them to ‘prosume’ and co-create (narratives about and images of) ‘nature’ as well as their own identities as environmentally conscious citizens. In turn and with special reference to nature (conservation) in Africa, I argue that this process takes place in the context of two important dynamics: the neoliberalisation of Africa’s natural resources and the framing of those same resources as ‘inverted commons’: a special type of commons that belongs to the whole globe but for which only Africans pay the real price in terms of their conservation. Based on these discussions, the presentation will show that prosumption is a logical intensification of earlier attempts to generate ‘value-producing labour’ inherent to the production and circulation of commodity-sign values in late capitalism. Nature conservation, in conclusion, shows that this value-producing labour is inherently material through its concealed connections with adverse capitalist conservation realities.
Critical Engagements with the Green Economy
First ‘Environmental Studies Colloquium’ in a series of four, organised by the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Society for International Development Netherlands Chapter (SID), and HIVOS
23 March 2012, Aula A, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, 14:00-17:15
Prof. Joan Martinez-Alier (Department of Economics and Economic History, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain)
Ecological Macroeconomics and Environmental Justice
Dr. Ken MacDonald (Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Canada)
Grabbing Green: Cynical ReaSon, Instrumental Ethics and the Production of ‘The Green Economy’
Dr. Esther Turnhout (Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands)
Only what is counted counts? The scientific and economic representation of biodiversity
Programme (see below for speaker biographies and abstracts)
13:30 Registration
14:00 Welcome (venue: AULA A)
14:05 Dr. Esther Turnhout
14:45 Dr. Ken MacDonald
15:30 break
16:00 Prof. Joan Martinez-Alier
16:45 Panel discussion
17:15/30 Drinks + announcements of Development and Change 2012 Forum issueon‘Nature™ Inc: Changes and continuities in neoliberal conservation and market-based environmental policy’ (edited by Murat Arsel and Bram Büscher) and the special issue of Development, vol 55 no 2 on ‘Greening the Economy’ (in partnership with UNRISD).
Place: Institute of Social Studies, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague, The Netherlands (for route description, please see http://www.iss.nl/about_iss/contact_and_directions/).
Registration: please register your attendance online @ registration@sidnl.org
More information: www.iss.nl/greeneconomy.
————————————————-
2 0 1 1
————————————————-
14 December 2011, 12:30-13:30: presentation in the brown-bag seminar series on Transnationalism, Globalisation and Development, Maastricht University. Title: Political Geographies of Value: Marketing a Southern African Conservation project through ‘Epistemic Circulation’
¤
on 24 November 2011 (16:00 – 17:30), I will give one of the Wageningen Geography Lectures 2011/2012. The title of my presentation is ‘The Neoliberalisation of Nature in Africa’. For more information, click on the poster:
————————————————————
On 15 September 2011, I will speak at the 2011 conference of the German Anthropological Association, with the theme: Wa(h)re “Kultur”? Daniel and Ursula Münster put together a very interesting workshop on Contested Environments: The Political Ecology of Agrarian Change and Forest Conservation which will feature 9 presentation across 5 sessions. I will speak about my forthcoming book in a presentation entitled ´Consensus, Antipolitics and Marketing: the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa´
More information about the conference HERE.
———————————————-
Nature™ Inc? Questioning the Market Panacea in Environmental Policy and Conservation
International Conference
30 June – 2 July 2011
ISS, The Hague, The Netherlands
Special guests:
Amita Baviskar (IEG, Delhi University), Nancy Peluso (University of California, Berkeley) and Scott Prudham (University of Toronto)
Organizing committee:
Bram Büscher, Murat Arsel, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Max Spoor (ISS, Erasmus University, the Netherlands), Wolfram Dressler (University of Queensland, Australia), Dan Brockington (SERG, Manchester University, UK)
*NEW* – download the provisional conference programme!
For more information, see the conference webpage and the Nature Inc poster, or send an email to: nature2011 AT iss DOT nl
Bram Büscher 
Leave a Reply