Curated Escapes and Derelict Landscapes in Times of Climate Change (CEDEL)

SNF Starting Grant, Centre for African Studies, University of Basel

Dramatic ecological upheavals are leading, on the one hand, to derelict landscapes in which human life is hardly possible anymore and, on the other hand, to curated escapes – exclusive retreats that elites are building as shelters from climate crises. These range from luxury estates in South Africa to Antarctic resorts and private islands in the Indian Ocean to visions such as a digital copy of Tuvalu. The project shows that such refuges are not pure fantasy, but remain closely linked to land that is increasingly considered uninhabitable – such as flooded coasts in Sierra Leone, regions of Namibia threatened by heat, or alpine landscapes changing due to thawing permafrost. The CEDEL team is investigating the historical roots of these elite retreats and the accompanying debates about overuse and neglect, which lie in settler colonialism, apartheid, and capitalist conservation logic. By showing how land – inhabitable for some, exclusive for others – is being redefined, we challenge common notions of territory, land rights, and nature conservation in the Anthropocene. Using approaches from environmental humanities, political ecology, and African studies, we explore central questions of environmental destruction and social inequality in the past, present, and future.