Amara Ifeji

Amara is a National Geographic Explorer, decolonial feminist political ecologist, and political geographer whose research examines the interconnections among extractivism, environmental justice, and gender justice amid the global energy transition. Her doctoral research examines lithium mining in Zimbabwe, ethnographically exploring the lived experiences of women in mining-impacted communities. She examines the relationships women have with extractivism, particularly the affective, embodied, and productive violence that lithium mining inflicts on them. Beyond documenting these gendered geographies of violence, her project uncovers the daily practices of resistance these women employ to fight extractivism. As procurement of lithium and other critical minerals proliferates globally to meet the energy transition, her research seeks to address the largely neglected forms of harm that global climate change strategies based on green extractivism entail. In unearthing these forms of violence, her research ultimately focuses on envisioning just futures in the Anthropocene and on exploring alternatives to growth-driven extractivism. Prior to the DPhil, Amara completed an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance at the University of Oxford and a BA (with Honors) in Political Science at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. During and after her BA, Amara served as the Director of Policy at the Maine Environmental Education Association. During this period, she developed a theory of change at the intersection of grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, and research by advancing state and federal climate and environmental justice legislation, including mobilizing a youth-led movement that secured a historic $2 million legislative investment to advance climate justice education in Maine. Amara’s policy experience is complemented by her service in philanthropy as a board member of the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation and in government, serving as a governor-appointed Youth Representative and Equity Subcommittee member of the Maine Climate Council.