March 31, 1997

Campus community invited to attend major conference on the environment

By Jennifer McNulty

The environment will be the subject of the 21st annual conference of the Political Economy of the World-System section of the American Sociological Association. Titled PEWS XXI: The Global Environment and the World-System, the three-day conference at UCSC will bring together leading scholars from sociology, history, economics, environmental studies, geography, and political science who are investigating the topic of global transformations.

The event begins April 3 with a keynote address by Immanuel Wallerstein, president of the International Sociological Assocation, whose talk is titled "Ecology and Capitalist Costs of Production: No Exit." His talk begins at 7:15 p.m. in the Kresge Town Hall. A full schedule of events follows. All events are free and open to the public.

Organized by sociology professor Walter Goldfrank, environmental studies professor David Goodman, and associate professor of sociology Andrew Szasz, the gathering is sponsored jointly by the Division of Social Sciences, the Sociology Department, the Center for Global, International, and Regional Studies, and the Center for Cultural Studies.

Thursday, April 3

7:15 p.m.

• Keynote lecture, "Ecology and Capitalist Costs of Production: No Exit."
  Immanuel Wallerstein, State University of New York at Binghamton, Kresge Town Hall

Friday, April 4th
Stevenson Fireside Lounge

9:30 a.m.-noon
Session I: HISTORICAL STUDIES

• "Economic Ascent and the Global Environment: World Systems Theory and the New Historical Materialism," Stephen G. Bunker, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Paul S. Ciccantell, Kansas State University

• "Ecological Relations in the Rise and Decline of Kingdoms and Civilizations, 2500 B.C. to 500 B.C.," Sing C. Chew, Humboldt State University

• "Commodity Frontiers, Ecological Transformation, and Industrialization: Rethinking the Expansion of the Early Modern World-Economy," Jason W. Moore, UCSC

• "Environmental Factors in the Decline of the Pre-Columbian Caribbean Societies and its Consequences for the Emerging World-System,"
  Hakiem Nankoe and Margo Nankoe, Johns Hopkins University

1:00-3:00 p.m.
Session II: INDUSTRY AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE 20TH CENTURY

• "Politics of Space and the Political Economy of Toxic Waste,"
  Robert Futrell, University of Kansas

• "World Systems Environmental Effects of the Gulf War,"
  Claire W. Gilbert, Blazing Tattles

• "Hungary and the Discourse of Waste,"
  Zsuzsanna Gille, UCSC

3:30-5:30 p.m.
Session III: AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE 20TH CENTURY

• "Environmental and Political Development in the Circumpolar North after Europeanization," Ilmo Massa, University of Helsinki

• "Food, Water, Power, People: Dams and Affluence in Late 20th Century East and Southeast Asia," Gavan McCormack, Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto) and Australian National University

• "The Role of New Arid-adapted Crops in Breaking the Cycle of Grazing Land Degredation in Patagonia," Jorge A. Zavala, University of Buenos Aires

Saturday, April 5th
Stevenson Fireside Lounge

10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Session IV: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSES

• "World-Systems Theory and the Global Environment: An Exploration,"
  J. Timmons Roberts, Tulane University, and Peter E. Grimes, Johns Hopkins University

• "How Toxic is the World-System?"
  Albert Bergesen and Laura Parisi, University of Arizona

• "Capitalism and Biospheric Collapse,"
  Peter E. Grimes, Johns Hopkins University

1:00-4:00 p.m.
Session V: ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS

• "Global Green Praxis: A Typology of Environmental Movements,"
  Richard Hutchinson, University of Arizona

• "Success and Impasse: Environmental Theory and Movement Practice in the United States and Around the World," Robert Schaeffer, San Jose State University

• "The Emergence of South Korean Environmental Movements: A Response (and Challenge?) to Semiperipheral Industrialization," Su-Hoon Lee, Kyungnam University (Seoul), and David A. Smith, UC Irvine

• "Impacts of the Global System on Environmental Regulations and Social Movements in the New South Africa," Christine Root and David Wiley, Michigan State University

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