Call for Papers: Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand and Princeton University Joint Symposium, 1-2 April 2027
The Climate Factory in the Global South
1-2 April 2027 Johannesburg, South Africa
Across the Global South, the urgency of climate action is converging with longstanding developmental challenges around growth, industrialization, employment, inequality, and energy security. Nowhere is this convergence more visible and contested than in the material sites of production: factories, supply chains, mines, logistics systems, and industrial infrastructures.
This symposium proposes the concept of the climate factory as a way of understanding climate transition not only as an environmental or policy challenge, but as a reorganization of production itself. The transition from fossil-fuel energy systems to renewable energy, the shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, the restructuring of battery and mineral value chains, and the emergence of new industrial and geopolitical alignments are reshaping patterns of accumulation, labour processes, state intervention, and global inequality.
The theme of this symposium aims to generate a more robust interdisciplinary encounter across the social sciences, and to address the critical and varied roles of Global South countries and regions in the global energy transition. Therefore, the symposium will bring together scholars working across sociology, economics, political economy, development studies, environmental studies, geography, labour studies, and related fields to explore how climate transitions are unfolding in middle-income and developing countries. We are particularly interested in comparative and empirically grounded work on sites and processes of production focused on countries in the Global South, including but not limited to Brazil, Egypt, Morocco, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Senegal, and South Africa.
Themes
1. The Climate Factory
● Factories and industrial infrastructures as sites where climate transitions are materialized and contested
● Technological change, automation, and labor processes in green industries
● New industrial geographies and production systems emerging through decarbonization
● Climate transition and the reorganization of global value chains
2. Green Industrial Policy and State Capacity
● Industrial policy for climate transitions in the Global South
● Institutional capacities and developmental states
● Industrial sovereignty, techno-nationalism, and energy security
● Dependency, uneven development, and alternative development pathways
3. Labor, Skills, and the Just Transition
● Organized labor and worker responses to green restructuring
● Skills transitions and labor market transformation
● Employment impacts of decarbonization
● Informal labor, care work, and social reproduction in climate transitions
4. Critical Minerals, Batteries, and Climate Capital
● Political economy of critical minerals
● Battery manufacturing and value capture
● Climate finance and transnational circuits of capital
● Resource extraction, sovereignty, and environmental justice
5. Comparative Climate Projects
● Comparative studies of industrial transitions across regions and sectors
● National and subnational climate strategies
● Coal transitions and regional restructuring
● Sectoral studies including automobiles, steel, energy, mining, logistics, and infrastructure
Format
The symposium will be an in-person event involving approximately 20–25 participants, including a small number of invited policymakers and practitioners. Confirmed keynote speakers include: Thea Riofrancos, Kunal Sen, and Justin Yifu Lin. The format will emphasize pre-circulated papers, designated discussants, extended thematic discussions, and comparative and interdisciplinary dialogue. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered.
Important Dates
● Abstract submission deadline: 30 September 2026
● Notification of acceptance: 30 October 2026
● Full papers due: 15 February 2027
● Symposium dates: 1-2 April 2027
For more details, refer here
