Toxic Intimacies: The (Bio)Politics of Disposability in Africa

This study interrogates the environmental and existential implications of toxic waste disposal in Africa. Situating the politics of toxic waste disposal within Western imperial and neocolonial oppressive histories in the continent, the study examines the despoliation of Africa’s natural ecosystems and various lifeforms through the outsourcing of toxic ruins to the continent. Drawing on close and comparative analysis of various cultural materials such as literary texts, films, photographs, ethnography, and the media; I employ insights from Black feminist environmental humanities and postcolonial criticism to read toxic sites in Africa as a contrast to the idealized technological progress represented by Silicon Valley high-tech economy. The study asks questions about who bears the brunt of the toxic wastes of our high tech, consumerist, and capitalist present. Consequently, this study sits at the intersection of environmental humanities, Black feminist theory, science and technology studies, and postcolonial criticism.

Faculty Supervisor:

Sarah Brouillette

Student:

Partner:

Cornell University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Sustainability & the Environment; Health and Related Sciences & Technology; New and Digital Media

University:

Carleton University

Program: