Critical Social Inquiry 0109 - Waste, Politics, and the Environmental Crisis

Tossing something in the trash is an almost thoughtless, automatic part of our daily existence. How are our habits, practices, systems, and institutions around waste tied in with domination and social inequality? Who does the dirty work, and how is this related to inequalities around class, gender, and race? How have historical changes in materials and waste systems shaped our contemporary understanding of our selves, and our relations with each other? What social assumptions allow waste relations to be seen as an acceptable and inevitable part of contemporary life? Where is this 'away' to which we throw, and what are the lives of the people like there? Focusing on waste connects local actions to global systems, encompassing dirty and dangerous work, environmental racism, and ecological devastation. In addition to thinking broadly about these themes, students will also examine their own waste practices, campus and regional waste infrastructures, and our ethical and political entanglements with these systems. Keywords: power, politics, economy, labor, pollution

Environments and Change Students should generally expect to spend 8-10 hours a week on work outside of class time.