GCRF RESEARCH IN GES
In Malawi, climate change, the ongoing impacts of British colonialism on economic and political
geographies, and cross-border tensions in East Africa have intersected to produce a series of crises for
predominantly communities. Working with Dr. Moyo (LUANAR), the NGO Abundance, and Kei Otsuki
(Utrecht University) GES researchers Deborah Dixon, Phil Nicholson, and Brian Barrett developed a
project on ‘Visualising Geoviolence’ that aims to map out how this complex intersection of physical and
social factors emerges over time and space, how it is experienced as a form of violence upon individual
bodies and community infrastructures, and how it is negotiated and responded to. The project focused
on areas such as Lake Chilwa where irrigation, fertilisers, sand mining and reed-bed removal have
profoundly impacted the now shallow, saline lake.
