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The questions related to waste management are not merely technical; what, how, where, and by whom becomes intrinsically political questions. This book is about the power relations in recycling, from the viewpoint of political ecology, and ecological economics.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction: Waste Is Increasingly a Site of Social Conflict
- 2: Theoretical Framework: Ecological Economics, Political Ecology, and Waste Studies
- 3: Shipbreaking in Alang: A Conflict Against Capital Accumulation by Contamination
- 4: Delhi's Waste Conflict: An Unlikely Alliance Against Capital Accumulation by Dispossession and Contamination
- 5: Informal Waste Recyclers and Their Environmental Services: A Case for Recognition and Capital De- Accumulation
- 6: Conclusions: How Environments Are Shaped, Politicized, and Contested
About the author
Federico Demaria is an Associate Professor in Ecological Economics and Political Ecology at the University of Barcelona, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research aims to inform theory on how environments are shaped, politicized, and contested. He is an editor of the journal Sustainability Science, and a member of the editorial board of Ecological Economics. He is also an expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has been a visiting scholar at research centres in India, China, USA, UK, Netherlands, Croatia, Germany, and Italy. He is the co-editor of Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era (2014) and Pluriverse: A Post-development Dictionary (2019), and a co-author of The Case for Degrowth (2020).
Summary
The questions related to waste management are not merely technical; what, how, where, and by whom becomes intrinsically political questions. This book is about the power relations in recycling, from the viewpoint of political ecology, and ecological economics.
Additional text
Drawing from many cases but particularly from the Delhi waste conflict around privatization of waste and introduction of incineration, the book traces back the struggles of workers and allies and makes a powerful call for the recognition of the crucial role informal waste workers make to the environment and the economy. The book makes a critical contribution to the growing knowledge of waste pickers by studying not only through a poignant narrative of conflicts and struggles but also by introducing key concepts for understanding the threats and the struggles for resistance.
