Residues: Rethinking Chemical Environments - III

Abstract

In chemical residues we encounter environmental phenomena that are at once voluminous and miniscule, regulated yet unruly. They are as difficult to theorize and study as they are to control or clean up. Yet reasons for doing so are ever more urgent: residues are remaking the biosphere, altering evolution, and laying claim to the Anthropocene (through carbon synthesis rather than combustion). This panel invites new thinking about chemical residues as material, political, and social objects. We are interested in bringing together STS scholars whose engagement with chemicals-in-society goes beyond more traditional segmented approaches that focus, for example, on a piece of regulation, a local environmental conflict, or a particular molecule. Instead, we seek papers that build deeper connections to the complicated, shape-shifting lives of residues. Our goal is a reimagined vocabulary and program for research that nudges academic and public discussion of chemical production and regulation beyond the cul-de-sacs of exasperation, complacency, and despair and towards critical, action-oriented frameworks that simultaneously grapple with, and thoughtfully engage, “the chemical residual.” In keeping with the themes of the conference, we are particularly interested in theoretical and empirical contributions that explore the possible participatory elements of individuals and institutions in disrupting residual flows and opening spaces and opportunities for innovation and regeneration.
The third session will propose various ways to understand the regulation and perception of residues, using the notion of apprehension.

Individual Presentations

• Apprehension as a Way to Understand the Regulation and Perception of Residues - Carsten Reinhardt, University of Bielefeld; Angela Creager, Princeton University; Emmanuel Henry, Université Paris-Dauphine, PSL University; Nathalie Jas, French National Institute for Agronomical Research (INRA)

• Molecular Bureaucracy - Evan Hepler-Smith, Duke University

• Monitoring Air Pollution and Visualizing Environmental-Health Inequalities in Paris - Justyna Moizard-Lanvin, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

• Symptom and Society: The Politics of Postindustrial Residues - Elena Sobrino, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Session Organizers

• Emmanuel Henry, Université Paris-Dauphine, PSL University

• Jody A Roberts, Science History Institute