Research project
Tracing pollution through multimodal methods: practicing an anthropology of the more-than-human
Environmental pollution and the broader climate crisis within which it is situated is a global concern. The Lancet defines pollution as “unwanted waste of human origin released to air, land, water, and the ocean without regard for cost or consequence” and considers it an existential threat that jeopardises contemporary societies (Lancet Planetary Health 2022). The impacts of pollution are myriad, ranging from air and water pollution to lead poisoning or the effects of toxic waste, affecting not only human populations, but also a host of other species and ecologies, as pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss are closely linked. Even though the adverse effects of pollution are well-documented, pollution is still increasing, with severe consequences for global and more-than-human health, climate, and livelihoods.
- Duration
- 2023 - 2029
- Contact
- Mandy de Wilde
- Funding
- Starting Grant OCW
Global challenge, local traces
Take plastics. Plastics are now ubiquitous across the globe, from microplastics bioaccumulating in human bodies and other living organisms to plastic-strewn oceans and beaches. Plastic pollution is qualified as a global challenge: its impacts are addressed in at least four of the Sustainable Development Goals. But plastics materialise, and leave traces, locally. The same goes for other substances such as greenhouse gases and asphalt fumes. This calls for situating pollution – and the harms and opportunities that may emerge from it – in local practices. In this project we ask: how does pollution manifest as part of different practices, both socially and materially.
Three case studies
To answer this question, we investigate a diversity of local engagements with pollution in various sites across the globe. We conduct three case studies:
- Miriam Waltz explores the role of measuring technologies in making visible and living with different forms of pollution by comparing the impact of low-cost air quality sensors and water and soil testing in commercial rice growing schemes in Kisumu, Kenya.
- Mandy de Wilde explores the valuing of chemical species, such as carbon and nitrogen, in regenerative agrarian practices on depleted farmlands in the Netherlands.
- Sander Hölsgens takes leisure activities – and video games and skateboarding more specifically – as an angle to research the perceived effects of pollution on popular culture.
An anthropology of the more-than-human
Through an empirical focus on urban life, agrarian practices, and leisure activities we will juxtapose ethnographic tales about various engagements with pollution: how is pollution known by stakeholders involved? How does pollution become a public or contested issue (or not)? How is pollution cared for and imagined by the stakeholders involved? In so doing, our project puts special emphasis on more-than-human stakeholders who or which may resist or afford specific engagements with pollution.