We are pleased to announce the conference program for “Race and Environmental Justice in the Era of COVID-19: Rethinking ‘Social Distancing’” to be held via Zoom on July 13-14, 2023.

This conference explores the question of ‘social distancing’ at the intersection of environmental and critical public health considerations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, from the perspective of race and environmental justice. The critical examination of environmental justice, in tandem with the complex and crucial impacts of racism and resultant social, political, cultural, and economic injustice, is an imperative topic for contemporary research. Tracing the long and complex histories and future of social and global justice, structural harm, toxicity, Indigenous epistemologies, and resistance across various scholarly fields, “Race and Environmental Justice in the Era of COVID-19: Rethinking ‘Social Distancing’” platforms discourses engaging with environmental justice, intersectionality, settler colonialism, native land dispossession, reconciliation, and social identity.

The conference program is available below, with each panel comprised of three 20-minute presentations, and allocated time for questions. Details of each panel, alongside further information pertaining to the keynote presentation from Nikiwe Solomon (University of Cape Town), can be found within.

Conference attendance is free and open to all interested parties. Please email air.anglistik@univie.ac.at to register.