Prof. Dr. Benno Fladvad

In my research, I am concerned with the political dimension of sustainability imaginaries and related socio-ecological transformation processes. This includes research on alternative food geographies, energy transition processes, environmental justice movements, and the tensed relationship between sustainability and democracy. Conceptually, I draw on approaches from political ecology, political theory, postcolonial theory, science and technology studies, practice theory, and legal geography.

Currently, as a Social Justice Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, I am investigating the political geographies and justice aspects of so-called green and blue hydrogen in the Northern European context. In parallel, I am working on the coloniality of climate policies, inter alia, in co-organizing an international conference, entitled "Climate Coloniality: Mechanisms, Epistemologies, Spaces of Resistance".

My research interests in detail:

• Democratic Theory in the Anthropocene
• Political Geography
• Political Ecology
• Postcolonial Theory
• Environmental Justice/Geographies of Justice
• Energy Geographies
• Alternative Food Geographies
• Sustainability and Transformation Research
• Legal Geography
• Practice Theory

October 2022:  Research stay in northern Norway, Finnmark

Since August 2022: Social Justice Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam.

Since September 2019: Research associate at the Humanities Centre of Advanced Studied “Futures of Sustainability”, University of Hamburg.

October 2019 – February 2020: Lecturer at the Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography, University of Hannover.

Since June 2019: Member of the Environmental Justice Network "EnJust"

October 2017 – August 2018: Lecturer and associated scientist in the Cultural Geography Working Group, Department of Geography, University of Kiel.

July 2017: Doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) in Geography with a specialization in Human Geography, University of Kiel.

January 2015 – April 2015: Research stay in La Paz and Tarija, Bolivia.

April 2013 – October 2013: Research stay in La Paz and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

October 2011 – September 2017: Research associate in the Cultural Geography Working Group, Department of Geography, University of Kiel.

February 2009 – December 2009: Research assistant at the department of Human Geography, University of Göttingen.

September 2009: Graduation in Geography (Diploma) with a specialization in Human Geography, University of Göttingen.

July 2008 – October 2008: Research stay in La Paz, Bolivia.

October 2007 – May 2008: Student assistant in the Special Research Project 552 (STORMA) of the German Research Foundation, department of Landscape Ecology, University of Göttingen.

October 2003 – September 2009: Studies of Geography, Political Science and Economics (Diploma), University of Göttingen.

Presentations and discussions inputs

30 September 2022 Commentary in the panel "Infrastructuring climate security", International workshop on "Climate security. Toward a critical conceptualization", University of Hamburg.

4 September 2022 Commentary in the panel "New struggles, different forms of agency? Claims for justice in the Anthropocene", EISA 15th Pan-European Conference on International Relations "Pandaemonium: Interrogating the Apocalyptic Imaginaries of Our Time" Panteion University, Athen.

23 June 2022 "Contested imaginaries and just transitions: exploring the political geographies of hydrogen infrastructures". Workshop of the Working Group for Geographical Energy Research: "ENERGIE.MACHT.WIDERSTAND Kritische Perspektiven in der Geographischen Energieforschung", University of Klagenfurt.

21 June 2022 "Sociotechnical imaginaries and just transitions: Theorizing the political geographies of hydrogen infrastructures". 3rd International Conference on Energy Research & Social Science, University of Manchester.

30 May 2022 "Die Zukünfte der Nachhaltigkeit und ihre Bedeutung für die Humangeographie". Geographical Kolloquium of the University of Kiel.

5 October 2021 "Auf der Erde bleiben: zu den affektiven Öffentlichenkeiten geo-sozialer Kämpfe". #GeoWoche 2021, University of Passau.

9 July 2021 "Reclaiming land, reclaiming the ‘nomos’: towards a geography of emerging rights”. Institute of Australian Geographers & New Zealand Geographical Society Combined Conference, University of Sydney.

1 July 2021 Panel discussion "Transformative Praktiken aus geographischer Perspektive: ein Rundgespräch". Translokale Vorlesungsreihe Praktiken und Raum, University of Jena.

31 January 2020 "Public Things: zur Frage der politischen Wirkmacht von Technik im Anthropozän". Neue Kulturgeographie 17: "Technocultures & Technoscapes", University of Bonn.

3 April 2019 "Nachhaltiger Futtermittelanbau – Bedingungen und Perspektiven". 91st Meeting of the Bioeconomy Network, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Berlin

20 March 2019 "Nachhaltige Nutztierfütterung als Baustein für eine Transformation der Fleischindustrie“. Workshop "Die Fleischbranche im Wandel – Wege und Ansätze einer Nachhaltigkeitstransformation", University of Lüneburg.

30 September 2017 "Die Stadt als Markt, Versammlungsort und Bühne: Empirische Einblicke in den Kampf um Ernährungssouveränität in Bolivien". Congress of Critical Geographers, University of Tübingen.

04 October 2015 "Topologies of justice: Scaling food sovereignty in Latin America" (with F. Dünckmann). German Congress for Geography. Humboldt University of Berlin.

19 June 2015 "Political practices of the new peasantry: conceptual thoughts on food sovereignty". Workshop on the Geographies of Food „Raum is(s)t Nahrung“. University of Bayreuth.

4 July 2014 "Neue Bäuerlichkeit als politische Praxis". Second Workshop on Practice Theory, Site ontology und Human Geography, University of Bamberg.

21 June 2014 "Tierra y Justicia: Topologies of justice in rural areas of Latin America". 8th Annual Conference of the Latin America Working Group, University of Bayreuth.

17 May 2014 "Ernährungssouveränität und Umsetzungsansätze in Lateinamerika" (with F. Dünckmann). Landesfachtag Geographie: "Lateinamerika", University of Kiel.

8 April 2014 "Scales of justice in Bolivian peasant movements: food sovereignty, agroecology and repeasantization". Annual conference AAG, Tampa, Florida.

10 November 2012 "Zwischen Anerkennung, Umverteilung und Macht: das Konzept der Ernährungssouveränität in Bolivien aus politisch-geographischer Perspektive". 7th Annual Conference of the Latin America Working Group, Free University of Berlin.

3 July 2012 "Recognition, Redistribution and Power: The concept of food sovereignty in Bolivia from the perspective of political geography". Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society, University of Edinburgh.

1 July 2012 "Zwischen Anerkennung, Umverteilung und Macht: das Konzept der Ernährungssouveränität in Bolivien aus politisch-geographischer Perspektive". Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Geographical Working Group on Developmental Theories, Free University of Berlin.

14 November 2009 "Partizipatives Schutzgebietsmanagement – Akteurs- und Konfliktanalyse für den Nationalpark Madidi in Bolivien". 5th Annual Conference of the Latin America Working Group, University of Göttingen.

Moderation and chairing

22 November 2022 Session "Uneven Development, Security and Climate Policy" Digital Conference of the DFG Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability: "Climate Coloniality: Mechanisms, Epistemologies, Spaces of Resistance", Universität Hamburg.

01 June 2022 Panel "The Limits of Control". Annual Conference of the Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability: "Planet and Society: Bounding the Futures of Sustainability", University of Hamburg.

25 November 2021 Session "Practices of Care & More-than-Human Entanglements". Digital Conference of the DFG Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability: "Ruptures, Transformations, Continuities. Rethinking Infrastructures and Ecology", University of Hamburg

21 October 2021 Workshop "Shrinking Civic Spaces". Digital Theme Week on "Land and Food Struggles in Latin America" of the Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability, University of Hamburg.

6 October 2021 Panel discussion "Environmental justice in Human Geography and beyond: taking stock and assessing avenues for future research". #GeoWoche 2021, University of Passau.

20 May 2021 Session "Philosophies and worldviews III - Communication across paradigms". International Workshop on Environmental Justice: "Bridging research, policy and activism for Environmental Justice in times of crisis", University of Freiburg.

12 February 2021 Session "Prospects: Crisis vs. Collapse". Annual Conference of the Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability: "Unsustainable Past - Sustainable Futures?", University of Hamburg.

6 November 2020 Keynote given by Matthew Hannah "Gerichtete Zeit und die Politik der Ablenkung" and Workshop on Practices and Instability. Digital Conference of the Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability: "Dealing with the (Un)Known Unknowns: Praxistheoretische Perspektiven auf sozial-ökologische Krisen", University of Hamburg.

29 November 2019 Presentation given by Suzi Adams "Castoriadis, social imaginaries, and ecology: Modernity and its futures". Inaugural Conference of the Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability: "Imaginaries of Sustainability", University of Hamburg.

7 June 2019 Session "Social movements and counter narratives II". Workshop of the Enjust-Network for Environmental Justice: "Narratives and Practices of Environmental Justice", University of Kiel.

Co-organization of scientific events

22-24 November 2022 Conference "Climate Coloniality: Mechanisms, Epistemologies, Spaces of Resistance". Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability, University of Hamburg in cooperation with Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá, Colombia.

18-21 October 2021 Theme week "Land and Food Struggles in Latin America“. Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability, University of Hamburg.

6 October 2021 Panel "Environmental justice in Human Geography and beyond: taking stock and assessing avenues for future research". #GeoWoche 2021, Universität Passau.

23-24 June 2021 Workshop "Doing Biodiversity. Experimentelle Wissenstransformationen für nachhaltige Zukünfte". Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability, University of Hamburg..

6-7 November 2020 Conference "Dealing with the (Un)Known Unknowns: Praxistheoretische Perspektiven auf sozial-ökologische Krisen". Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability, University of Hamburg..

29 November 2019 Conference "Imaginationen von Nachhaltigkeit". Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies Futures of Sustainability, University of Hamburg.