Human waste/wasting humans: dirt, disposable bodies and power relations in Nigerian newspaper reports

Oloko, Patrick

doi:10.1080/02533952.2018.1441111

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Finally, a number of contemporary reflections on 'waste' have attempted to break free from the traditional western and euro-centric outlook of waste management discourse in order to include valuable perspectives from the Global South, as well as centres of informality. For instance Oloko (2018) examines print media reports in Nigeria to examine the ways in which 'dirt', 'waste', and 'garbage' function as relational and socially constructed concepts within in-tersecting sanitation and social contexts. Oloko's (2018) analysis reveals that media coverage on issues of waste or sanitation often carries discursive undertones of power, in which emotive terms related to waste are often used to justify the exclusion of marginalised groups or individuals, such as sex workers or the poor, from general society.…”

Section: Thinking Philosophically About Wa-stementioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance Oloko (2018) examines print media reports in Nigeria to examine the ways in which 'dirt', 'waste', and 'garbage' function as relational and socially constructed concepts within in-tersecting sanitation and social contexts. Oloko's (2018) analysis reveals that media coverage on issues of waste or sanitation often carries discursive undertones of power, in which emotive terms related to waste are often used to justify the exclusion of marginalised groups or individuals, such as sex workers or the poor, from general society. He concludes that in this context waste' and 'garbage' are not merely relational objects, but rather evocative terminologies adopted by the healthy and powerful to mark out a space of physical, moral and political non-belonging inhabited by the weak or marginalised (Oloko, 2018).…”

Section: Thinking Philosophically About Wa-stementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oloko's (2018) analysis reveals that media coverage on issues of waste or sanitation often carries discursive undertones of power, in which emotive terms related to waste are often used to justify the exclusion of marginalised groups or individuals, such as sex workers or the poor, from general society. He concludes that in this context waste' and 'garbage' are not merely relational objects, but rather evocative terminologies adopted by the healthy and powerful to mark out a space of physical, moral and political non-belonging inhabited by the weak or marginalised (Oloko, 2018). Writing about the Eastern Himalayas, Wang (2019) examines how differing interpretations of 'trash' adds to the complexity of relations between Han Chinese and indigenous Tibetans.…”

Section: Thinking Philosophically About Wa-stementioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Bad’ Trash: Problematising Waste in Blantyre, Malawi

Kalina

Tilley

2020

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‘Waste’ is everywhere, a common aspect of daily life in both the West and the Global South. However, the ways in which we as individuals understand it as a problem is far from universal. It does not exist independently from the people it affects, rather, waste, as a problem, is continually made and remade through human practice. The purpose of this article is to explore how and why certain ‘waste’ items are and become understood as problems. We adopt Foucault’s (1984) notion of ‘problematisa-tion’, as an analytical lens for conceptualising processes of problem formation through the eyes of two different groups working within and on the margins of Mzedi Dump Site in Blantyre, Malawi: subsistence maize growers and informal waste pickers. Drawing on extensive qualitative and ethnographic fieldwork, our findings suggests that for those working at Mzedi, waste problematisations are shaped by the tangible: the visible, and often painful impacts that Mzedi’s hazards have on their lives and livelihoods. However, the ultimate problematisation of waste lies in its utility, i.e. ‘good’ waste, is internalised based on its value. ‘Bad’ trash however, is problematised because it has no value, and is therefore considered useless, a problem taking up time and space that could be utilised more profit-ably. Understanding these processes of problem formation, and the degree to which waste problematisations are personal and/or socially constructed, has important ramifications for the adoption of appropriate waste management strategies and should inform a more nuanced and inclusive waste management studies discourse.

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Section: Thinking Philosophically About Wa-stementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thinking Philosophically About Wa-stementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thinking Philosophically About Wa-stementioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Bad’ Trash: Problematising Waste in Blantyre, Malawi

Kalina

Tilley

2020

Detritus

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“…That is not to say that fine critical philosophical, ontological, and epistemological deconstructions of 'waste' are not being written. On the contrary, over the past decade there has been growing interest in the wider role of society and culture in defining and structuring attitudes towards, and behaviours around, waste (see, (Ablitt & Smith, 2019;Hird, 2012;Reno, 2015;Spelman, 2011;Von Bemmel & Parizeau, 2019;Viney, 2014)) This includes a more recent increase in perspectives from the Global South (see, for instance Kalina, 2020a;Kalina et al, 2020, a, b;Oloko, 2018;Wang, 2019;Wu & Zhang, 2019). Furthermore, there has also been growing interest in the connection between tourism and circularity within South settings (see Jarman-Walsh, 2017;Little, 2017;Shaw, 2019;Suradi, 2019;van der Graaf, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualising Reuse in African Households: Perspectives from Chembe, Malawi

Kalina

Ngcoya

Nkhoma

et al. 2021

Environ Dev Sustain

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African households are often models of sustainability, practicing daily behaviours, which, if even not directly associated by the individual with Western conceptualisations of ‘recycling’ or ‘reuse’, have dramatically positive impacts on the amounts of household waste generated. However, rarely has the African household been given the same consideration, and there is a poor understanding within the discipline how poor individuals, and Africans in particular, understand and conceptualise ‘waste’ as both a problem and a resource. Drawing on Kennedy and Appadurai’s theoretical perspectives, the purpose of this article is to critically examine and contextualise household solid waste reuse practices in Chembe, Malawi, a rapidly densifying village and a constituent part of one of the nation’s premier resort destinations. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork with residents and stakeholders, findings suggest that, within Chembe, reuse practices, and the motivations that drive them, are both widespread and diverse, with a multitude of ‘waste’ items living multiple ‘lives’ before being ultimately discarded as ‘trash’. These behaviours are facilitated by the fact that many desirable waste items are widely available locally within Chembe, and although some of these reuse practices may be widespread within Malawi, others have been uniquely fostered by Chembe’s position as an affluent tourism destination with abundant and easily accessible waste streams. This investigation is particularly important within the context of rural Africa, and the Global South more broadly. Moreover, it should critically inform circular economy, zero waste, and broader waste management studies discourse, where African households have been habitually treated as problems needing solutions, rather than potential sources of innovation and learning.

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Human waste/wasting humans: dirt, disposable bodies and power relations in Nigerian newspaper reports

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

‘Bad’ Trash: Problematising Waste in Blantyre, Malawi

‘Bad’ Trash: Problematising Waste in Blantyre, Malawi

Conceptualising Reuse in African Households: Perspectives from Chembe, Malawi

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