Film screening: Overburden

How can conservation narratives be used to legitimise new mining ventures?

On 4 November, the Research Section "Ecologies" of the Cluster of Excellence Africa Multiple at the University of Bayreuth hosts a screening of OVERBURDEN, the award-winning feature documentary by Prof. Gregg Mitman (ERC Professor, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU Munich).

Set in the Nimba Mountains on the Liberia–Guinea border, the film follows rare wildlife and local communities reclaiming a landscape shaped by decades of mining and conservation, and examines the tensions between them.

The screening is followed by a critical discussion with:
• Prof. Gregg Mitman, historian of science, medicine and the environment
• Dr. Shadrach Kerwillain, Liberian conservation biologist featured in the film
• Sandra Calkins and members of the Cluster

The conversation will bring together environmental history, conservation biology and social science, and reflect on the challenges of communicating complex environmental issues to wider publics.

📅 4 November 2026, 5:00 pm
📍 Conference Room, Research Centre for Africa (FZA), University of Bayreuth, and online
🗣 English | Hybrid

Researchers, students and anyone interested in conservation, science communication and extractive industries are warmly welcome.

More info: https://lnkd.in/da8t3x9Y