Culture and Waste: The Creation and Destruction of Value
Author(s): Gay Hawkins (Editor), Stephen Muecke (Editor), John Frow (Contributor), David Halperin (Contributor), Jonathon Gil Harris (Contributor), Anna Neill (Contributor), Suzanne Raitt (Contributor), Deborah Bird Rose (Contributor), Michael Taussig (Contributor), Patricia Yaeger (Contributor)
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Publication Date: 31 Oct. 2002
Language: English
Print length: 144 pages
ISBN-10: 0742519813
ISBN-13: 9780742519817
Book Description
Waste is a key category for understanding cultural value. It is not just the ‘bad stuff’ we dispose of; it is material we constantly struggle to redeem. Cultures seem to spend as much energy reclassifying negativity as they do on establishing the negative itself. The huge tertiary sector devoted to waste management converts garbage into money, while ecological movements continue to stress human values and ‘the natural.’ But the problems waste poses are never simply economic or environmental. The international contributors to this collection ask us to pause and consider the complex ways in which value is created and destroyed. Their diverse approaches of ethics, philosophy, cultural studies, and politics are at the forefront of a new field of ‘ecohumanites.’
Editorial Reviews
Review
We often hear that culture and economy are intertwined, but this absorbing collection suggests that the neglected category of waste may be the most revealing link between them. Moving, unsettling, and deeply thought provoking, this is a must-read book for cultural theorists, political economists, and curious readers alike. — Meaghan Morris, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
In myriad ways, cultural studies is facing and avoiding the problems of value(s): work on the culture of economics and the economics of culture are only the first and most obvious signposts. If death is the key to understanding human life, perhaps waste is the key to understanding culture as the production of value. This collection will make you laugh and squirm, but most importantly, it will make you reflect on some of those still protected alcoves of your common sense. The essays are as diverse, intriguing, and, sometimes, disturbing as the trash that increasingly defines our milieu. — Lawrence Grossberg, University of North Carolina
About the Author
Gay Hawkins is a senior lecturer in the School of Media and Communications, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Stephen Muecke is professor of cultural studies at the University of Technology, Sydney.
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