The Hidden Costs of Digitalization: Resources, Global Justice, and Technological Infrastructures Digitalization: Feminist & Decolonial
Date of the event
Dienstag, 13 Mai 2025
Time of the event
06:00 pm – 07:30 pm
Place of the event
Online über Zoom
Download link:
Download event
Digital technologies and so-called green innovations are often seen as key solutions to the climate crisis. But how sustainable are they really? In this lecture, political scientist Thea Riofrancos examines the hidden costs of technological infrastructures—from resource extraction in regions of the Global South, such as Latin America, Southern Africa, and Southeast Asia, to global supply chains and their social and ecological consequences. The focus lies on the power relations embedded in extractive practices and geopolitical dependencies. Feminist and decolonial perspectives open up new ways of imagining a more just and sustainable digital future.
The lecture invites a critical reflection on the global entanglements of technology, sustainability, and justice.
Thea Riofrancos
Thea Riofrancos is a political scientist and Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, as well as Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute. Her research focuses on resource politics, the energy transition, and global justice. She examines how extractive industries—such as lithium and copper mining—are intertwined with geopolitical power structures and ecological crises. Her forthcoming book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W. W. Norton, 2025), explores the political conflicts and global inequalities at the heart of the “green” resource boom. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Dissent, among others.
The lecture series “Digitalization: Feminist and Decolonial” explores the global power structures embedded in digital technologies. It centers perspectives that critically examine digitalization through an intersectional lens.
Participation in the event is only possible by visiting the external provider Zoom. Creating an account is not required. The privacy policy of Zoom applies: Externer Link: https://zoom.us/de-de/privacy.html.
For further information on data protection at the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and your rights as a data subject, please refer to Section E. VII. "Registration for digital events and online conferences of the bpb" in our data protection policy: www.bpb.de/datenschutz
The Zoom link will be sent via email shortly before the event.
Information about the event
Event address:
Online über Zoom
Organizer:
Federal Agency for Civic Education
Press contact:
E-Mail Link: presse@bpb.de
Participation remark:
Participation fee: none