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.
Participants are invited to read a text by the speakers beforehand:
Roth, Emmanuelle, and Gregg Mitman. “Visual Tailings.”Environmental History 31, no. 2 (2026): 383—392.https://doi.org/10.1086/740272
If you would like to attend the seminar and watch the film Overburden beforehand, kindly let the seminar organiser Wenzel Geissler, know, who will share a link.)