Socio-Legal Hub Seminar Series: Translating Research on Waste Pickers and Sustainable Development for Impact + Film Screening of ‘Reclaiming Now’ (by Author)

The Socio-Legal Hub Seminar Series is a forum for substantive, methodological and conceptual discussions within the field of socio-legal studies.

In her short talk to accompany the film, Dr Lindner will speak about the research underpinning the film and her experience of creating a film for wider impact.

Reclaiming Now is a documentary film about waste pickers in South Africa and their struggle to enjoy the social and economic dimensions of sustainable development as promised in the South African Constitution. Directed by Premilla Murcott and Tricia Hlongwa, the documentary is the brainchild of Dr Allison Lindner, an interdisciplinary legal scholar at UCL Faculty of Laws who wished to translate her PhD thesis findings into a widely accessible medium. Her thesis focused on how international legal ideas such as sustainable development shape the lives of the most vulnerable among us, in this case, waste pickers in South Africa. It found that the lived reality of sustainable development does not accord with the aspiration of the concept. Waste pickers work hard to collect and sell recyclable materials for a meagre living, while saving South African municipalities millions of rand per year in landfill space. Yet, they face multiple challenges to realising economic and social development in South Africa, the country called the most unequal society in the world by the World Bank. Essentially, waste pickers are guaranteed a right to sustainable development in the South African Constitution, but this right is not realised. They continue to live in poverty with little opportunity to move into any formal sector. The film will appeal to policymakers, waste pickers and their allies, householders, activists, academics and others interested in the environment, the informal economy, waste and sustainable development.

Speaker: Dr Allison Lindner

Dr Allison Lindner is a Lecturer in Law at UCL Faculty of Laws, and a member of the academic circle advising the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development on the fulfilment of his mandate. She draws on economics and sociology to understand the connections between human activity, the environment and the law. She holds a PhD in Law from the University of Kent; an LLM in International Economic Law from SOAS, University of London; a Graduate Diploma in Law from the College of Law; and a B.A in International and Comparative Studies from the University of Western Ontario. She has worked as a Legal Researcher at the Commonwealth Secretariat; and as a researcher in support of the appellants in the landmark U.S Supreme Court case, Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell). She is a previous Chair of the Public Interest Environmental Law UK conference. This is her first film.

A light sandwich lunch will be provided at the event.

This event will be on a first-come first-served basis.