Alice Mah, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick I have been researching the petrochemical industry for more than five years now. Day in and out, this behemoth industry, with its toxicity, controversies, and sprawling network of activities around the globe, has been looming in the back of my mind. Whenever I am gripped by an … Continue reading Special Issue: Making the Petrochemical Connection
Dr Thom Davies, University of Nottingham, @ThomDavies Prelude: Some of the ideas discussed in this Toxic News piece are explored further in two recent academic publications, available here and here (Open Access). In September 2017, I returned to Louisiana to continue ethnographic research about lived experiences in a region infamously nicknamed ‘Cancer Alley’ – home to the … Continue reading Toxic Geographies: chemical plants, plantations, and plants that will not grow
Troy D. Abel (Huxley College of the Environment on the Peninsulas, Western Washington University) Jonah White (Department of Geography, Michigan State University) Stacy Clauson (Department of Environmental Studies, Western Washington University) Emilio’s voice cracked in response to our air pollution experience question. He’s one of Seattle’s thousands of soccer dads. Emilio recounted smelling and tasting … Continue reading Seattle’s Segregated Riskscape
Sarah Marie Wiebe (University of Hawai’i, Mānoa) Jen Bagelman (University of Exeter, United Kingdom) Laurence Butet-Roch (Ryerson University) I didn’t Know! Poem by Ada Lockridge Aamjiwnaang First Nation I didn’t Know that we had a say on what goes on in the plants I didn’t Know what was being released or how much or the … Continue reading Bodies Exposed: Reframing the Geopolitics of Dilution in Canada’s Chemical Valley
Sophia Jaworski, Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology, University of Toronto I speak with a visual artist who has been displaced from multiple residences and is sleeping in a minivan. On social assistance, she is in the difficult situation of trying to find a place to rent that is safe for her accessibility needs. She has intense … Continue reading Tenacious Fumes, Chemical Sensitivity, and the Politics of Relation
In this Special Issue of Toxic News we explore different ways of making pollution visible: Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies The Hungarian photographer Robert Capa once said: ‘if your photographs are not good enough, you aren’t close enough’. He was a war photographer and famously captured … Continue reading Editorial: Toxic Visions – Photography and Pollution
Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies Many documentary photography projects attempt to reveal the structural violence that society has wrought. Monsanto: a photographic investigation by photographer Mathieu Asselin is more specific in its aim: it is a visual call for corporate responsibility. Drawing on the theme of temporality … Continue reading Exposing a Chemical Company
Becky Alexis-Martin explores the materiality of the nuclear industry in a multi-sited photo-essay Dr Becky Alexis-Martin, Senior Research Fellow in Human Geography at The University of Southampton. @MysteriousDrBex A layer of detritus festoons every abandoned filing cabinet and empty shelf. The fierce midday sun pierces the hazy windows, causing suspended motes to shimmer in the … Continue reading The derelict afterlives of para-nuclear waste
Paul Shambroom visualises the invisible landscapes of the US oil reserve Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies In his artistic statement quoted below, photographer Paul Shambroom asks: ‘How does one photograph something that can’t be seen?’ This is a fundamental question at the heart of all the … Continue reading Treasure: Landscapes of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies In September 2017, I returned to Louisiana to continue ethnographic research about lived experiences in a region infamously nicknamed ‘Cancer Alley’ – home to the highest concentration of refineries and chemical plants in the United States. I landed in New Orleans airport and … Continue reading Toxic Geographies: chemical plants, plantations, and plants that will not grow
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