The Orfalea Center's Future Infrastructures: Water, Energy and Justice Research Cluster

Prof. Paul Amar, Director of the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies, and our Orfalea Center team invite you to the second of a series of in-person gatherings and presentations to build community and celebrate the many accomplishments and future plans of the Orfalea Center Thematic Research Clusters.

Tomorrow at 3-4:30pm we will provide free food and unite many friendly colleagues and students. This event will be hosted at the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies: 2320 Girvetz Hall (the building opposite from the Girvetz classroom building). This event features PhD students Tina Guirguis (Dept. of Global Studies), Surojit Kayal (Dept. of English), and Stephan Borunda (Dept. of Film and Media Studies). Dr. Heidi Amin-Hong (Dept. of English) will be moderating this panel. They will present the work of the Orfalea Center's Thematic Research Cluster and the Research Resources (see flyer below).

The Future Infrastructures: Water, Energy and Justice Research cluster works to develop new critical and creative research practices in the social and environmental impacts of water infrastructure (such as sanitation services, container shipping, hydroelectric dams, and “green infrastructure” that uses plants to mitigate stormwater, or other waterways), and energy infrastructure (such as oil/gas extraction sites, mineral mining, pipelines, solar grids, nuclear energy, etc.).

They pursue these questions by organizing collaboration around three distinct yet interconnected themes: (1) the scales of largely invisible water and energy systems and substances, from cells to oceans and cities; (2) the mediations of infrastructure, negotiating elements, multispecies life forms, technology, and culture; and (3) the participation of impacted communities and citizens in the deliberations on and implementation of decisions about water and energy infrastructure. Teaching Resources and publications they have posted for public use on the Orfalea Center Website can be found here:

https://orfaleacenter.ucsb.edu/future-infrastructures-water-energy-and-justice/

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM, FRIDAY, APRIL 21TH, 2023
GIRVETZ HALL 2320
FREE CATERED LUNCH

Tina Guirguis will showcase teaching tools she has created for the Orfalea Center, which cover introductory themes related to infrastructure and sanitation studies based on recently completed research in India and Egypt.
Surojit Kayal looks at the impact of COVID-19 at the East Kolkata Wetlands. He will discuss a short film From Farm to Field, based on oral interviews and data collection work produced by the Society for Creative Opportunities and Participatory Ecosystems (SCOPE), in partnership with the Orfaled Center. He will also speak about the course "Deserts, Islands, and Other Energy Infrastructures," which he conceptualized and designed in partnership with Stephen Borunda.
Stephen Borunda has been partnering with the Tularosa Badin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC), which seeks recognition and reparations for the people of New Mexico exposed to atomic radiation from the Trinity nuclear testing.