Research Seminar Series

Dr. Klaire Gain, Assistant Professor of Social Justice and Peace Studies, presents Resistance and Subsistence: An Ecofeminist Analysis of Anti-mining Mobilization in the Dominican Republic, as part of the 2026-2027 Research Seminar Series.

To attend in person, RSVP to research@kings.uwo.ca.

To attend virtually, register at https://westernuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/4zeiKHChTem0dcxvGGYA2A.
A Zoom account is required to register.

About the talk:

Global resistance to neocolonial extractive projects is growing, with women often on the frontlines of mobilization in defense of their ecologies and communities. Through the application of an ecofeminist analysis, this paper highlights the lived-experiences of women's resistance to open-pit mining in the Dominican Republic.

A critical narrative inquiry with 10 women over a two-year period reveals thematic consistencies in their experiences, including motherhood and kinship, nuances of relocation, consequences of resistance and strength and resiliency, contributing unique contextual understandings to existing discourse. The paper presents their shared experiences as situated within systemic forces of power, illustrating ecofeminist understandings of capitalist patriarchal exploitation of nature and women for economic growth.

This work bridges a critical gap in existing literature by situating the Dominican Republic within the broader narratives of gender, mining, and resistance in Latin America and the Caribbean. The significance of this paper lies in its capacity to highlight narratives of gendered resistance which aim to disrupt systems of transnational extraction and strengthen global solidarity for women’s anti-mining resistance movements.