BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:The Anthropology Department welcomes Kristin Doughty to deliver her lecture “Threats to Power: Methane Extraction in Rwanda.”At the borde r of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo sits Lake Kivu\, an infam ous freshwater lake whose scenic beauty conceals vast stores of methane an d carbon dioxide. On its shores\, internationally financed companies\, in partnership with the Rwandan state\, have built the world's only dissolved -methane-to-electricity projects. In this lecture\, I will talk about my f orthcoming book Threats to Power (MIT Press)\, which situates these projec ts within the long standing shadow of Rwanda's post-genocide reconstructio n\, asking how a lake came to be understood as an existential danger in a region shaped by devastating human violence. Drawing on ethnographic resea rch conducted with engineers\, government officials\, and communities arou nd Kivu\, my project examines efforts to transform methane from threat to resource—and what these efforts reveal about the exercise of contemporary forms of power. Bringing energy into conversation with carceral geography and war ecologies\, I trace how a dangerous gas becomes a tool of national repair\, uncovering the fraught relationship between technological promis e\, sovereign power\, and the lived realities of those who dwell at the la ke's edge.Kristin Doughty is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Rochester. The talk will be facilitated by Saida Hodžić\, a ssociate professor of anthropology at Cornell University\, and Nikita Agar wal and Nora Stocovaz\, SU anthropology Ph.D. students. The talk is co-spo nsored by the CNY Humanities Corridor War Ecologies Working Group. DTEND:20260409T213000Z DTSTAMP:20260510T161326Z DTSTART:20260409T200000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Threats to Power: Methane Extraction in Rwanda UID:RFCALITEM639140120066568866 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

The Anthropology Department welcomes Kristi n Doughty to deliver her lecture “Threats to Power: Methane Extraction in Rwanda.”

At the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Cong o sits Lake Kivu\, an infamous freshwater lake whose scenic beauty conceal s vast stores of methane and carbon dioxide. On its shores\, international ly financed companies\, in partnership with the Rwandan state\, have built the world's only dissolved-methane-to-electricity projects.

In thi s lecture\, I will talk about my forthcoming book Threats to Power (MIT Press)\, which situates these projects within the long standing sha dow of Rwanda's post-genocide reconstruction\, asking how a lake came to b e understood as an existential danger in a region shaped by devastating hu man violence.

Drawing on ethnographic research conducted with engin eers\, government officials\, and communities around Kivu\, my project exa mines efforts to transform methane from threat to resource—and what these efforts reveal about the exercise of contemporary forms of power.

B ringing energy into conversation with carceral geography and war ecologies \, I trace how a dangerous gas becomes a tool of national repair\, uncover ing the fraught relationship between technological promise\, sovereign pow er\, and the lived realities of those who dwell at the lake's edge.

Kristin Doughty is an associate professor of anthropology at the Universit y of Rochester. The talk will be facilitated by Saida Hodžić\, associate p rofessor of anthropology at Cornell University\, and Nikita Agarwal and No ra Stocovaz\, SU anthropology Ph.D. students. The talk is co-sponsored by the CNY Humanities Corridor War Ecologies Working Group.

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