Science in Resistance

This event is part of a series of Psychology seminars that regularly occurs during the Autumn and Spring terms.

In the face of climate breakdown and rising authoritarianism, as many are being silenced simply for speaking truth to power, how can we build collective counter-power? How do we create and strengthen movements to face the ongoing and coming storms?

In this talk, Dr. Fernando Racimo will present his book Science in Resistance, which provides a first person account of the Scientist Rebellion, a global movement of scientists and scholars rising in collective resistance for climate and social justice. Combining his own experiences in activism with interviews with dozens of scientist-activists around the world, as well as insights from research on activism and direct action, the book explores the challenges academics face when taking a stand against systems of oppression.

The heart of the book is an exploration of what it means for scientists to leave the comfort of the ivory tower, and step out into the streets, becoming active participants in the urgently needed transformation of our societies: how scientist-activists come to change themselves even as they attempt to change the world around them. Racimo also describes how academic institutions are today complicit in exploitative and extractive logics, and how they could be transformed from the bottom-up, to become institutions that foster social and ecological well-being.