Dimensions of Political Ecology: DOPE2015
February 26-28, 2015, Lexington, Kentucky

Organizer:
Hugh Deaner, PhD Candidate | University of Kentucky Department of Geography

Discussant:
Dr. Sarah A. Moore | University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Geography | Author, “Garbage matters: Concepts in new geographies of waste,” Progress in Human Geography (2012) 36(6) 780–799

Geography in recent years has deepened the study of waste, especially as a productive socionatural subject. To date much of this research has focused on questions related to consumer and municipal waste in particular. However, these sources contribute less than five percent of total global waste, which rather consists overwhelmingly of the wastes and castoffs of industrial production. This session collects empirical case studies that utilize a political ecology lens to shed light on the problems of industrial waste. Under this broad umbrella at varying scale, papers may engage socionatural outcomes and justice, but are encouraged also to consider an expanded range of topics related to industrial waste, such as governance and waste-value relations; across a spectrum of industrial manufacture, extraction, construction, and agriculture, among others; and, without theoretical restriction, whether for instance, political economy, actor-network, or Foucauldian approaches are taken.

If interested in contributing to this session, please email a brief abstract to Hugh Deaner:  <hugh.deaner@uky.edu>. Deadline for submission is December 5, 2014, plus separate registration to the DOPE2015 conference. Participants will agree to deliver a summary paper to the discussant no later than February 1, 2015. For information about DOPE2015 and to register visit <www.politicalecology.org>.

Edward Burtynsky, Nickel Tailings No. 32, 1996.