Introducing the Discard Studies Compendium, phase one

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… the launch of the Discard Studies Compendium, a list of critical key terms.

Discard Studies

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Discard Studies Compendium, a list of critical key terms. It is critical in the sense that it comes out of methods in the humanities and social sciences that contextualize the problems and systems that are not readily apparent to the invested but casual observer. The task of each author, and the wider field of discard studies, is to trouble the assumptions, premises and popular mythologies of waste. Waste and pollution are the material externalities of complex cultural, economic, and political systems; analysis and solutions need to address these wider systems rather than fall to technological or moral fixes that deal with symptoms rather than origins of problems.

This online version of the Compendium is the initial step of a longer term project that aims to create a print version with a comprehensive list of terms.

Currently, terms include:

Core Concepts
Abjection

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3 thoughts on “Introducing the Discard Studies Compendium, phase one”

  2. Hmmmmm …. my response is quite mixed about this. I think some of it is so hopelessly romantic that it becomes hard to read (re: credibility). However, the most basic concern: building cheap shit that is designed not to last or age well and that this is a huge, nation-wide problem … that seems accurate enough. New homes are built of trash. What’s left of the good stuff in metropolis are also giving way to time …

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