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Lozi people living on the vast Zambezi (Barotse/Bulozi) floodplain in Western Province, Zambia, are experienced agriculturalists long adapted to seasonal patterns of flooding and drought. Compounded histories of colonialism, administrative disenfranchisement and neglect, extractive activities, and the concomitant reduction of territory and authority have impoverished the regional ecology and people. Increased climatic variability and other ecological challenges threaten Lozi ways of life, crops, and biodiversity more generally. Fish stock depletion is a major challenge reportedly partially caused by chemical contamination from insecticide treated mosquito nets used for fishing, other poison-based fishing methods, and from a Canadian mining company’s activities there. A Chinese construction company that built the bridge spanning the floodplain reportedly cultivated shrimp and snail species that threaten native fish populations. While seasonal fish bans are in place, their timing does not always correspond with traditional bans, and increased hunger (along with the impossibility of enforcement) renders such bans ineffective. In addition, some fish species have disappeared altogether. Biodiversity losses, which include water serpents deemed to be responsible for maintaining the structural integrity of the river, impact biopolitical life, cultural heritage and TEK. Appeals to UNESCO for Heritage status and WWF projects are underway and may confer some protection, however local suspicion remains due to prior agreement violations (with other bodies).

Liu, Jennifer. 2023. "Mapping otherwise?: weaving waterscape knowledges" In 4S Paraconference X EiJ: Building a Global Record, curated by Misria Shaik Ali, Kim Fortun, Phillip Baum and Prerna Srigyan. Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science. Honolulu, Hawai'i, Nov 8-11.

The Weldon Spring Interpretive Center was a discursive jamboree for those of us curious about how anthropocenics are narrated. This particular display at the center stood out to me becuase of its resemblance to other interpretive center or science museum displays representing the "life cycle" of an organism or of cycles of ecosystem conditions (e.g. forest succession). One of the first displays visitors see upon entering the center, the display's format and captions read to me as a clear attempt to control the discourse about nuclear contamination and remediation in the area. The image--or its creator--wants to do the work of suggesting that the clean up process has brought the place "back to how it was," cycling back to a good beginning. The text used in this display is exclusively neutral or positive. The arrows moving from each circle to the next purports to display how "this area has served many purposes over the years." It states "these exhibits are designed to educate you on the history, science, and efforts of many to bring the Weldon Spring site full circle." In this cycle, Weldon Spring is not a hazardouse waste site or contaminated site but rather "a site for remedial action." Thus we are to see the space as a "home to many people," then "a TNT and DNT plant," then "a uranium feed and matierals plant," then "a site for remedial action," "an extensive cleanup effort," "a successful solution," and, finally, "a place to enjoy and learn." In this emphasis on a "return" to good conditions, the displacement of residents, health issues plant workers and others' faced, and the uncertainties or messiness of what adequate clean up is are omitted. In this image, and in much of the interpretive center, the discourse around nuclear materials, its effects and cleanup, is neatened, simplified, into a narrative that de-emphasizes the actual health impacts of these processes and of the political wherewithall that was required to make that remediation happen.

The notion of cycling back to something is a particularly intriguing move