SIG Talks: Design for Justice – Exploring Biases in Green Colonialism in Engineering and Policy Discourse

About the SIG Talk

As part of the Design for Justice Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Delft Design for Values Institute (DDfV), this SIG Talk presents an exploratory study on how colonial biases embedded in the Western development paradigm shape moral and policy framings of contemporary “green” transitions. The research builds on earlier work within the DDfV seed project “Design for Values and Critical Raw Materials: A Decolonial Justice Perspective”, funded by the Delft Design for Values Institute.

Presentation

Exploring Biases in the Western Development Paradigm: Traces of Green Colonialism in Engineering and Policy Discourse

Presenters:
Tristan de Wildt & Anna Melnyk

Description

This exploratory study investigates how colonial biases embedded in the Western development paradigm shape moral and policy framings of “green” transitions. The analysis focuses on the Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden, one of Europe’s largest open-pit copper mines, which supplies raw materials for the energy transition while affecting Sámi traditional lands and reindeer herding. This makes Aitik a compelling case for examining how sustainability, justice, and responsibility are differently framed across discourses.

The study compares three domains:

1. Indigenous discourse (Sámi Council, Sametinget, Protect Sápmi), which foregrounds relationality, sovereignty, and justice-based worldviews.

2. Policy and regulatory discourse (Swedish and EU), which situates mining within sustainable development, security, and strategic autonomy narratives.

3. Corporate and industrial discourse (Boliden and sectoral organisations), which emphasises innovation, responsibility, and green growth.

Drawing on emerging indicators of green colonialism (e.g. domination, resource transfer, land appropriation, exploitative labour, and the erasure of Indigenous lifeways), the study analyses value framings, agency distributions, and dominant metaphors. The findings reveal how technocratic “green transition” narratives, epistemic hierarchies, and instrumental views of land perpetuate colonial power dynamics, while Indigenous discourse articulates alternative moral frameworks grounded in reciprocity, cultural continuity, and self-determination.

To join online, please contact: a.melnyk@tudelft.nl