Earth: How the Politics of Skill Shape Responses to Climate Change

Please join us this Wednesday October 5th from 12.30-1.45pm in room 9-217 for the first fall semester meeting of the DUSP International Development Group (IDG) Development Studies seminar.

We are pleased to welcome Natasha Iskander, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Service at the Wagner School at NYU. Professor Iskander is author of the recently published, award-winning book Does Skill Make Us Human? Migrant Workers in 21st Century Qatar and Beyond (Princeton University Press). The book focuses on the experiences of migrant workers in Qatar’s massive construction industry during the lead up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It examines the ways that categories of workers’ skills are used to define political personhood and migration status in the context of ever-hardening national borders and the growing global pressures of climate change. Professor Iskander’s talk will be based on Chapter 6 of the book entitled “Earth: How the Politics of Skill Shape Responses to Climate Change” (attached).

We are also pleased to have comments provided by Noora Lori, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at BU. Professor Lori’s research focuses on citizenship and migration, with particular expertise on the Gulf region of the Middle East.