HEALENAE seminar series: Prof. Dr Gregg Mitman & Dr. Emmanuel Roth – Where Mining meets Conservation
Join the series online November 5, 2026, 14:15 – 16:00
The seminar series is a monthly online reading seminar that involves the presentation of suggested readings written by the speaker themselves, followed by a discussion and questions session with the speaker. The speakers include supervisors, external advisory board members, and other scholars invited to present topics relevant to specific project themes within HEALENAE related to health and the environment. These seminars create the space to speak directly with researchers and authors in related fields and to regularly bring the cohort together to collaboratively build knowledge, methodological, and analytical capacity on the interlinkages between health and the environment as part of the HEALENAE training programme.
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Prof. Dr Gregg Mitman & Dr. Emmanuel Roth – Where Mining meets Conservation
November 5, 2026, 14:15 – 16:00
Prof. Dr Gregg Mitman is a historian, and Dr Emmanuelle Roth is an anthropologist, both interested in health, science, and the environment. Since 2022, they have been working on the European Research Council-funded project "Fragments of the Forest: Hot Zones, Disease Ecologies, and the Changing Landscape of Environment and Health in West Africa.” The project aims to discern the ecological, economic, political, and social forces at play that have turned fragments of the Upper Guinean rainforest in Liberia and Guinea into “hotspots” where biodiversity conservation concerns, emerging infectious disease threats, and resource extraction interests converge. Their feature-length documentary Overburden, directed by Sarita West, explores one such hotspot, the Nimba Mountains on the Liberia–Guinea border, home to some of West Africa’s most endangered species. Overburden follows rangers, scientists, and forest defenders as they navigate the tangled frontier where mining meets conservation, and where memory, science, and power collide.
Readings:
West, Sarita, dir. Overburden. Produced by Gregg Mitman. Los Angeles Black Film Festival, 2026.
Roth, Emmanuelle, and Gregg Mitman. “Visual Tailings.” Environmental History 31, no. 2 (2026): 383—392. https://doi.org/10.1086/740272
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Join Zoom Meeting
https://uio.zoom.us/j/63770390862?pwd=rw5ZaGEFAHB6UU50PObiQ8DsootT8E.1
Meeting ID: 637 7039 0862
Passcode: 650820