Everyone is warmly welcome to attend. Admission is free, but registration is required in advance via this form.
📅 19 May 2026
🕕 18:00 – 20:00
📍 Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Pleinlaan 2 - 1050 Etterbeek - Room I.0.01
💰Free entry
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Abstract
Ecological Marxists have long contended that capitalism is unique for its internal compulsion to degrade the environment, indeed that it is the only mode of production with such a drive. But is that true? Capitalism cannot be understood without contrast cases and comparison with pre-capitalist modes. In this lecture, the focus will be on one turning-point in the environmental history of Europe: the rise of the Carolingian empire in the eighth century. Reversing four centuries of a high degree of wildness in the landscapes of the continent and autonomy for its communities, the empire set off a first pulse of deforestation. Only by clearing land from woods and marshes could it be used to produce surplus for the lords. Mass violence was required for this spurt in environmental degradation – indeed, genocide was a constitutive part of it. Studying the political ecology of the Carolingian empire might give a deeper understanding of the drivers of ecological destruction, the role of Europe in world history and the specificities of the capitalist mode of production.