On 19 November 2025, Salena Tramel successfully defended her PhD thesis investigating how the intersection of the issues of land and water grabbing, extractivism and climate change mitigation and the intertwining of social movements occur – and with what political outcomes and implications.
Tramel's thesis investigates the different forms of intervention carried out by grassroots movements, recognizing the class, race/ethnicity and gender forms of oppression under which they organize.
Her analysis focused on three cases of movement-led struggles against land and water grabbing in Indonesia, Mali and Honduras and on three instances of movement-led struggles against colonization and extractive industry in Palestine, Zimbabwe and the United States.
Rewatch Salena's PhD defence introduction
