Inhabiting the Uninhabitable: Who Gets to Stay on a Changing Planet?
An international conference on the question of who gets to remain, and who is made to leave, as the planet changes will be held in Cape Town from 27 to 29 January 2027. Inhabiting the Uninhabitable brings together researchers in environmental history, rural history, African history, economic history, political ecology and geography to examine how places come to be declared uninhabitable, by whom, and with what consequences for the people who live there.
Across Southern Africa and beyond, decisions about habitability are rarely neutral. Land declared marginal, degraded, flood-prone or climate-vulnerable has long been the ground on which removals, conservation enclosures, dispossession and elite retreat have been justified. The conference invites work that takes a long historical view of these processes and connects them to present debates on climate adaptation, private conservation, migration and the uneven distribution of the right to stay. Contributions on questions of (un)inhabitability, elite escapism and private conservation are particularly welcome, as is ongoing or unfinished research.
Format
International conference with a call for contributions
Organisers
Bernard C. Moore and Luregn Lenggenhager [institutional affiliations and any partner institutions to be confirmed]
Call for contributions
Proposals and questions should be directed to the organisers, Bernard C. Moore or Luregn Lenggenhager. [Deadline, abstract length and any travel or funding support to be confirmed from the announcement.]
Official announcement
H-Net Announcements: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20153399/inhabiting-uninhabitable-who-gets-stay-changing-planet-conference-cape (listed under the H-Net Settler Colonialism network; direct announcement link to be added)