Overview
For some, recycling is a big business; for others a moralised way of engaging with the world. But, for many, this is a dangerous way of earning a living. With scrap now being the largest export category from the US to China, the sheer scale of this global trade has not yet been clearly identified or analysed. Combining fine-grained ethnographic analysis with overviews of international material flows, Economies of Recycling radically changes the way we understand global and local economies as well as the new social relations and identities created by recycling processes. Following global material chains, this groundbreaking book reveals astonishing connections between persons, households, cities and global regions as objects are reworked, taken to pieces and traded. With case studies from Africa, Latin America, South Asia, China, the former Soviet Union, North America and Europe, this timely collection debunks common linear understandings of production, exchange and consumption and argues for a complete re-evaluation of North-South economic relationships.
Full Product Details
Author: Catherine Alexander ,
Joshua Reno ,
Catherine Alexander
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: Zed Books Ltd
Dimensions:
Width: 13.80cm
, Height: 13.80cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.513kg
ISBN: 9781780321950
ISBN 10: 1780321953
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 09 August 2012
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
'In this superb collection, what had been dismissed as mere waste or simple recycling is found to be immensely productive in the creation of a second tranche of commodities, complex labour relations, new global linkages, the creation of value and highly sophisticated analysis and theory. Only from this point can debate on these topics be genuinely called informed.' Daniel Miller, Professor of Material Culture, University College London 'Garbage dumps in Rio, textile recycling in northern India, mountains of discarded IT equipment in China, global circulations of uranium: this remarkable collection really lifts the lid on the global sociologies, politics and geographies of waste and recycling - in their widest possible sense. The result is an unprecedented richness in understanding how the recycled use of all manner of materials work to sustain large swathes of our world and why this matters fundamentally for our planet's future. Economies of Recycling is a genuine Tour de Force!' Stephen Graham, Professor of Cities and Society, Newcastle University
In this superb collection, what had been dismissed as mere waste or simple recycling is found to be immensely productive in the creation of a second tranche of commodities, complex labour relations, new global linkages, the creation of value and highly sophisticated analysis and theory. Only from this point can debate on these topics be genuinely called informed. * Daniel Miller, Professor of Material Culture, University College London * Garbage dumps in Rio, textile recycling in northern India, mountains of discarded IT equipment in China, global circulations of uranium: this remarkable collection really lifts the lid on the global sociologies, politics and geographies of waste and recycling - in their widest possible sense. The result is an unprecedented richness in understanding how the recycled use of all manner of materials work to sustain large swathes of our world and why this matters fundamentally for our planet's future. A genuine Tour de Force! * Stephen Graham, Professor of Cities and Society, Newcastle University *
Author Information
Catherine Alexander is a professor of anthropology at Durham University. Joshua Reno is an assistant professor of anthropology at Binghamton University.
