Waste, Trash, Pollution

Undergraduate

How do we know that something is waste or garbage? How does something valuable later become trash, or vice versa? This course looks at human encounters with waste, trash, discards, and pollution. Through examining ethnographic and social theory texts, we consider how waste is not a neutral or self-evident label, but a sociocultural construct that draws social boundaries and enacts cultural meanings. As we denaturalize waste through engaging with course readings and writing assignments, we’ll ultimately explore how to understand human culture by looking at our relations with the things—and the people—we treat as disposable. Waste and pollution have long featured in conceptions of sociality within anthropology and social theory more generally, offering a wide range of topics, geographical sites, and contexts to explore. We look at pieces on, but not limited to: trash collectors and recyclers in Brazil, Pakistan, and Bulgaria; microplastic pollution; theories of productivity and value; wastelanding as a mechanism of colonialism and development in Vietnam; waste management infrastructures in Ghana and the US; nuclear toxicities and environmental justice; and purity politics. SO MW 4pm-5:15pm