What stories can we tell of the world around us? What narratives might explain the maelstroms? How can we tell the stories that might allow us to stay with the trouble, and uncover obscured pathways to more abundant futures?
Political ecology tries to make sense of the myriad confusions and strangenesses that beset us. There is much that is horrifying: rising inequality, resurgent fascisms, wars, ecological disruption, pollution, the commodification of life and livelihoods, pandemics, biodiversity loss, warming seas and climates. And yet these are also times of ever-greater resistance; when the absurdities of growth mantras or market logics or conspiracy theories are plain to more and more people, where social protest drives neo-fascists off the streets (in the UK) and closes tourists’ roads in ‘wildernesses’ (in Tanzania). Hegemonic rule is struggling to quell fragmented, but persistent, opposition.
Political ecology analyses how these stories are embedded in, reinforce or resist particular power relations. Political ecologists can offer clarity in the chaos because of our conceptual frameworks, the scope of our theories, the quality, diversity and depth of our data and analyses, and the public engagements of our work. All can help us to see patterns and common threads across diverse circumstances and recognize differences across apparent similarities. It can help us identify the looming threats and point us toward transformations fuelling new hopes.
The stories we tell as a result can be a method for not just understanding, but also for aligning engagement, hope, and change. They can highlight causes of particular dynamics, and their consequences. They can provide counter narratives to contest dominant values and paradigms. They can revitalise the social and civic movements and spaces of which we are part.
But the breadth and variety of the tools we draw upon and the stories we tell depend on what we mean by ‘political ecology’. There are many currents within it, with multiple histories behind diverse schools of thought. Our origins are diverse, and the possibilities of our shared interests are multiple. Yet there are tensions between radical, critical and instrumental approaches. Understanding these different schools and varieties, and pushing their boundaries, will enrich the approaches to alternatives, visions of change and forms of hope we can offer.
POLLEN 2026 will delve deep into these histories, to learn from different traditions and schools of thought, to identify and reflect on the stories, imaginaries, and discourses developing. We want to combine them into new assemblages or forge new ways of seeing and doing political ecology that can better tackle the injustices erupting around us and strive for peaceful alternatives to them.
We invite political ecologists and aligned researchers, activists, movements, writers and creators to bring narratives and insights from research, interventions, actions and practice that aims to resist the oppressions and degradations that beset us, work for brighter alternatives and tell the new, vital stories about the challenges and inspirations facing us. We welcome the submission of papers, panels, discussion forums, posters, art and other creative interventions from researchers, activists and creatives.
