Discard Studies

from Multimedia Library Collection:
Web Resources

Discard Studies. Home page.

Discard Studies (website). https://discardstudies.com/.

Critical Discard Studies is an emerging interdisciplinary sub-field that takes waste and wasting, broadly defined, as its topic of study. We use the “discard studies” instead of “waste studies” to ensure that the categories of what is systematically left out, devalued, left behind, and externalized are left open.

(…) Critical discard studies draws upon approaches to waste undertaken in disciplines of cultural anthropology, economics, sociology, archaeology, geography, history, and environmental studies, to name a few. A growing number of researchers from all of these disciplines are asking questions about waste, not just as an ecological problem, but as a process, category, mentality, judgment, a infrastructural and economic challenge, and as a site for power struggles.

(…) This website is designed as an online hub for scholars, activists, environmentalists, students, artists, planners, and others whose work touches on themes relevant to the study of waste and wasting. (Text from Discard Studies)

Founded by Robin Nagle in 2010, Discard Studies hosts a blog with three regular authors (Max Liboiron, Josh Lepawsky, and Alex Zahara) but also invites posts from guest authors. Posts might summarize current research, analyze current events, review works of art, summarize a panel discussion, criticize recent literature, or offer theoretical insights in plain language. The website also contains a resources section, with articles and journals, books and other media, and hosts a helpful Discard Studies Compendium with a list of critical terms for interested audiences. It is open to contributions.