CFP for Pollen 2026 (Barcelona, June 29 – July 3, 2026): Power, Land, and Fire: Crisis Narratives and Burning Practices
Convenors:
Alessandro Tinti (University of Turin) (alessandro.tinti@unito.it)
Lorenza Belinda Fontana (University of Turin) (lorenza.fontana@unito.it)
Nicola Manghi (Università di Torino) (nicola.manghi@gmail.com)
Luisa Fernanda Escobar Alvarado (University of Turin) (luisa.escobar@unito.it)
Kapil Yadav (Royal Holloway, University of London) (kapil.yadav@rhul.ac.uk)
Michel Valette (Imperial College London) (m.valette20@imperial.ac.uk)
Panel:
This panel explores the political ecology of fire, focusing on the narratives and practices that shape fire governance and their relationship with land politics. Historically, Eurocentric narratives and conservation agendas have undermined and delegitimised local fire practices and knowledge while justifying regulatory interventions. In recent years, sensationalist media coverage of uncontrolled “megafires” has reinforced suppression-oriented narratives that obscure the key socio-ecological functions of fire. These prevailing narratives also overlook the long-standing role of fire as a tool of political contestation, particularly for land controls and management, and a cultural bridge between human and non-human spheres. Land ownership is being reconfigured through the language of ecological risk, green finance, or infrastructure-led development, reshaping who can burn, who is blamed, and who is displaced.
Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, we aim to offer a critical discussion that problematizes the ways in which fire management is often entangled in broader processes of land dispossession, inequality, mobility, and epistemic violence, frequently reproducing colonial legacies. We also seek to foreground the diverse, locally rooted meanings and uses of fire, particularly as they relate to rural livelihoods, land stewardship, and cultural identity. The panel will examine how a wide range of actors (state authorities, corporate players, indigenous and local communities, and international organisations) mobilise fire practices, discourses, and policies across different historical and geographical contexts.
We welcome contributions that explore how fire governance interacts with struggles over land access and territorial control, accumulation by dispossession, emerging conservation discourses and broader capitalist transformations. In doing so, we seek to deepen understanding of the socio-ecological and political dynamics surrounding fire, positioning it as a medium of power, resistance, and transformation within contested landscapes.
Format: Open panel, 4-5 presentations (15 minutes each), 30 minutes dedicated to Q&A, moderated by a discussant who will also provide feedback.
Deadline for submission: 23:59 CET on December 5. More information on Pollen 2026 can be found here.
Submit your abstract here (or visit https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/pollen2026/p/17467).
Please message us with any inquiries:
Kapil Yadav or Michel Valette
Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society
kapil.yadav@rhul.ac.uk
m.valette20@imperial.ac.uk
