‘Sacrifice zone’: The environment–territory–place of disposable lives

Abstract

‘Sacrifice zone’ is how a certain type of segregated and stigmatized space has become internationally known. In such a space, the physical and mental health and the quality of life of human beings are compromised in the name of ‘economic development’ or ‘progress’ – but ultimately for the sake of capitalist interests. This article offers a discussion of how environmental issues, power relations and the production of subjectivity intersect in the production of a kind of space that is typical of how residential segregation correlates with patterns of industrial location and the neglect of the health and well-being of the poor by the state apparatus in the (semi) periphery of the capitalist world system.

Gas Flaring in Nigeria: A Multi-level Governance and Policy Coherence Analysis

“…The Federal Government also exercises strict political control over ministries/institutions and parastatal agencies located in the political centre in Abuja. However, the physical distance (Abuja and the Niger Delta region is approximately 550 km apart) creates a political geography whereby the federal capital territory positions the Niger Delta region as a sacrifice zone to meet other national policy goals (de Souza 2021 ; Ogwu 2012 ; Unah and Iruoma 2021 ). As an interviewee noted: The government concentrates power in Abuja, very far away from where solutions need to be.…”

“…Government ministry and agency restructuring across electoral cycles every 4 years has created barriers to long-lasting policy commitments, leading to “somersault policies”. Also, the Federal Government’s strict political control over ministries/institutions and parastatal agencies allows the federal capital territory to position the Niger Delta region as a sacrifice zone (de Souza 2021 ; Ogwu 2012 ; Unah and Iruoma 2021 ) to meet other national policy as well as personal and partisan policy goals. These influences strongly shape the MLG structure and policy coherence, resulting in a lack of coordinated action and political will to end gas flaring.…”

Accumulation by dispossession and hazardscape production in post‐corporate gold mining in Itogon, Philippines

“…“Sacrifice zones” echo the idea of necropolitics because these areas create conditions of risk that seem to relegate certain lives to the disposable. Communities that host dirty or destructive industries are made to live in marginal areas where quality of life is relatively low in terms of health, welfare, and the availability of viable livelihood alternatives (Cottle, 2013; de Souza, 2021). From these, the connections across labour, resources, environments, and economic activities can be traced via the power dynamics embedded in socioeconomic relations that drive systems of production and labour.…”

The History and Deep Time of Climate Crisis

“…While the damage is regretted, sometimes compensated to varying degrees, and by some deeply mourned, a powerful ideological consensus around the necessity of 'progress' and 'growth' secures public consent to-or at least complicity with-these sacrifices. This is made easier because sacrifices have usually been required of those with the least voice in the decision-making process (Nixon 2011;de Souza 2021;Hecht 2012), and concealed where they cannot be contained in this way (Zhang 2019).…”