Polluted Transformations of Fluid Commons in Bangladesh
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines the compound dispossessions experienced by Zele fishermen in a wetlands ecology materially transformed by pollution. ‘Enclosure by contamination’ conceptualizes how capitalist activities can change the biophysical properties of commons with dispossessive effects on human and more-than-human health and abilities to sustain life, far beyond sites of extraction. By historicizing enclosures in Bengal, I suggest that the term khas (public, state-owned) can be used to expand the usage of ‘commons’ beyond community-based natural resource management. Second, I show how the movement of toxic residues through ‘fluid commons’ changes the very material qualities and affordances of these entangled soaking ecologies. Lastly, I argue that specific ecological characteristics of fluid commons enable evasion of liability and must be addressed in efforts to make ship recycling ‘green’.
Source: Social Analysis
Author: Camelia Dewan
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4407761908