'Decolonizing Development: Food, Heritage and Trade in Post-Authoritarian Environments' - A Book Launch Featuring Author Jennifer Keahey

Post-Soviet Latvia and post-apartheid South Africa are far apart geographically and yet have endured a similar history of colonial and authoritarian rule before transitioning to democracy at the end of the 20th century. This book, "Decolonizing Development", examines these two nations in an unusual comparative study of post-authoritarian efforts to decolonize production and trade.

Author Jennifer Keahey combines an analysis of political economy and ecocultural heritage to unpack alternative trade formations. Her book also connects world systems thinking with Indigenous knowledge to articulate a decolonial theory of development and change over the longue durée. 

Conclusions and insights drawn are timely and important for a planet confronted by crises such as authoritarianism, laissez-faire capitalism, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

A light lunch will be served.

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Jennifer Keahey is Associate Professor in Sociology at the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University. She is also an Associate at the Centre for Fair and Alternative Trade Studies at Colorado State University. Jennifer's work unpacks the forces of globalization and development on rural communities as well as their involvement in local food and fair trade movements.