As part of IIESL’s commitment to investigating and disseminating research, we have hosted several book launches, to bring a global perspective and the most recent thinking on inclusive economies and sustainable livelihoods to UTSC and beyond.
manuel pastor: electric vehicles, inclusive economies and a just future
In March 2025 Manuel Pastor, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, joined IIESL in Toronto for a conversation about his recent book, co-authored with Chris Brenner, Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future. The book examines the rise of California’s Imperial Valley as a key hub for lithium extraction, exploring its implications for the electric vehicle industry, economic development, and environmental justice. It critically assesses whether this emerging “Lithium Valley” can deliver on promises of a just and sustainable future, balancing technological innovation with equitable economic opportunities for local communities.
we write collectively: community economies in the global south
In November 2024, Caroline Hossein (UTSC) and Christabell P.J. (University of Kerala) joined Salewa Olawoye (York University, Nigeria) and Andria Barrett (The Banker Ladies Council) in conversation about the case studies they co-edited on rotating savings, credit associations, and economic cooperation.
jamie peck: variegated economies
In May 2024 Jamie Peck, Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia, spoke about his recent book Variegated Economies, the culmination of more than two decades of work on the spatiality of economic forms, world, and lives and an analysis of how to approach, conceptualize, and analyze economies as geographically differentiated phenomena.
Jennifer tucker: outlaw capital
In April 2024 for Jennifer Tucker, Associate Professor of Community and Regional Planning at the University of New Mexico, engaged in a conversation with professors Beverley Mullings, Mark Hunter, Raj N Reddy, and Sergio Montero about her book Outlaw Capital, which explores how transgressive economies and gray spaces are central to globalized capitalism; how conflicts over everyday illegalities shape urban development; and how racialized narratives of economic legitimacy, rather than legal compliance, determine whose activities are deemed formal and legal, and whose are targeted for reform or expulsion.
