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Why is the rate of incarceration in Louisiana so high? How do we critique the way prisons are part of infrastructural solutions to anthropocenic instabilities? As Angela Davis writes, “prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages.” One way of imagining and building a vision of an anti-carceral future is practiced in the Solitary Gardens project here in New Orleans: 

The Solitary Gardens are constructed from the byproducts of sugarcane, cotton, tobacco and indigo- the largest chattel slave crops- which we grow on-site, exposing the illusion that slavery was abolished in the United States. The Solitary Gardens utilize the tools of prison abolition, permaculture, contemplative practices, and transformative justice to facilitate exchanges between persons subjected to solitary confinement and volunteer proxies on the “outside.” The beds are “gardened” by prisoners, known as Solitary Gardeners, through written exchanges, growing calendars and design templates. As the garden beds mature, the prison architecture is overpowered by plant life, proving that nature—like hope, love, and imagination—will ultimately triumph over the harm humans impose on ourselves and on the planet.

"Nature" here is constructed in a very particularistic way: as a redemptive force to harness in opposition to the wider oppressive system the architecture of a solitary confinement cell is a part of. It takes a lot of intellectual and political work to construct a counter-hegemonic nature, in other words. Gardeners in this setting strive toward a cultivation of relations antithetical to the isolationist, anti-collective sociality prisons (and in general, a society in which prisons are a permanent feature of crisis resolution) foster.

My interest in NOLA anthropocenics pivots on water, and particularly the ways in which capitalist regimes of value and waste specify, appropriate, and/or externalize forms of water. My research is concerned with water crises more generally, and geographically situated in Flint, Michigan. I thought I could best illustrate these interests with a sampling of photographs from a summer visit to NOLA back in 2017. At the time, four major confederate monuments around the city had just been taken down. For supplemental reading, I'm including an essay from political theorist Adolph Reed Jr. (who grew up in NOLA) that meditates on the long anti-racist struggle that led to this possibility, and flags the wider set of interventions that are urgently required to abolish the landscape of white supremacy. 

Flooded street after heavy rains due to failures of city pumping infrastructure.

A headline from the same week in the local press.

Some statues are gone but other monuments remain (this one is annotated).

A Starbucks in Lakeview remembering Katrina--the line signifies the height of the water at the time.

Reading:

Adolph Reed Jr., “Monumental Rubbish” https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/06/25/monumental-rubbish-statues-torn-down-what-next-new-orleans

P.S. In case the photos don't show up in the post I'm attaching them in a PDF document as well! 

I used my already existing knowledge of the UN's structure and purpose to further synthesize the role and ability of the UN Special Envoy to Haiti. I also followed up on what sort and amount of aid US AID has been giving to Haiti. From their website, I discovered that they have donated $4.2 billion to date and have assisted in improving legal protections for vulnerable populations. Finally, I followed up on the fact that at press-time, the UN had not admitted responsibility for the cholera outbreak. I found a New York Time article dated 17 AUG 16 that says they had and are making significant new actions toward improving the situation.

I'm not sure if other systems have been modeled off this one; however, it seems as though the Disaster STS network uses a similar system of annotating works in order to share their concepts and engage in discussions with others.

This organization doesn't get involved with legislation in the regions in which they are operating. They instead focus on providing care to those affected by any number of disasters or calamities. This focus shows that they are more concerned about the immediate well-being of their patients than trying to influcence local governments to make policy changes.

As mentioned in an earlier annotation, the bibliography shows a great deal of primary and secondary sources as well as other analyses, showing that this article was produced like many other historical research peices - the author uses historical perspective to frame a period in the reader's mind, which allows them to further argue their point.

I was unable to find other pieces where this article was referenced and discussed.

"... it remains to be seen whether the 'nuclear village' [of STS scholars] is ready to collaborate in the international governance of nuclear emergencies" (Schmid, 207)

"... nuclear emergency preparedness has hardly gained traction." (Schmid, 200)

"In high-risk industries... safety sometimes gets pitted against profitability..." (Schmid, 199)

The authors pulled information from a variety of sources and tools. They pulled from information procured by their non-profit, Partners in Health as well as from other research articles. Some of them are also on the ground level, treating and interacting with patients who are symptoms of their structural violence argument. These patients are able to provide first-hand information to the authors.