6/ The environmental impacts of asymmetric material flows. Waste circulation between institutions and garbage collectors
Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea, N. 44, 4|2020
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“Groupe SUD” by DSC_7773 on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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Italiano
Nonostante recentemente siano stati pubblicati numerosi Discard Studies, i quali esaminano la circolazione dei rifiuti e le sue implicazioni nei contesti urbani, non sono stati considerati adeguatamente i legami che essi hanno con la governance e le pratiche informali dello Stato. Questo articolo ha lo scopo di rivolgere uno sguardo più approfondito sui flussi di rifiuti tra i waste pickers e le istituzioni a Casablanca (Marocco), scompaginando le categorie di subalternità e informalità. La sezione empirica del contributo fornisce un’analisi delle diverse strategie (indagate etnograficamente), attraverso le quali i waste pickers si relazionano con le continue tensioni riguardanti la loro posizione nei processi di governance, smentendo la convinzione diffusa, secondo la quale essi sarebbero agenti linearmente subalterni, inquinanti e passivi. Infine, riflettendo sull’interdipendenza tra governance urbana e pratiche informali, proporrò una reinterpretazione delle nozioni di giustizia e mobilità spaziale, con riferimento alla circolazione dei rifiuti.
Parole chiave: Casablanca, Infrastrutture informali, Marocco, rifiuti urbani, tossicità.
English
Despite a growing number of recent Discard Studies looking at waste circulation and its implications in urban contexts, they have not sufficiently addressed the links they have with State Governance and Informality. This article is aimed at providing a deeper gaze on waste flows between waste pickers and institutions in Casablanca (Morocco) by complicating the categories of subalternity and informality. The empirical part of the paper provides an analysis of the variety of strategies, which I explore ethnographically, through which waste pickers engage with perpetual tensions regarding their position in governance processes rather than the linearly subaltern, polluting and passive agents they are often presented as. Eventually, reflecting on the interdependence between urban governance and informal practices, I will propose a reinterpretation of the notions of justice and spatial mobility with respect to the circulation of waste.
Keywords: Casablanca, Informal infrastructure, Morocco, Toxicity, Urban waste.
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Anna Karin Giannotta, PhD Candidate in Anthropological Studies (Department of Historical and Geographical Sciences and the Ancient World – University of Padova, Venice and Verona).
My research interests include urban and environmental anthropology issues with a focus on the “social value of waste”. Following the circulation of waste in a given urban space and its “regimes of values”, I explore interconnections and interdependencies between the informal (waste pickers and semi wholesalers) and the formal (institutions and governmental entities) in Casablanca and Barcelona.
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GIANNOTTA, Anna Karin, «The environmental impacts of asymmetric material flows. Waste circulation between institutions and garbage collectors», Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea, N. 44, 4|2020
URL: <http://www.studistorici.com/2020/12/29/giannotta_numero_44/>
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«The environmental impacts of asymmetric material flows. Waste circulation between institutions and garbage collectors» by Anna Karin Giannotta / Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione – Condividi allo stesso modo 3.0 Unported.
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