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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! 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published this report on the “Environmental Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident and their Remediation: Twenty Years of Experience”.

The IAEA is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of atomic technology and serve as an international regulator to promote safety and eliminate proliferation of nuclear weapon technology. According to the IAEA’s mission statement: “The International Atomic Energy Agency:  is an independent intergovernmental, science and technology-based organization, in the United Nations family, that serves as the global focal point for nuclear cooperation; assists its Member States, in the context of social and economic goals, in planning for and using nuclear science and technology for various peaceful purposes, including the generation of electricity, and facilitates the transfer of such technology and knowledge in a sustainable manner to developing Member States; develops nuclear safety standards and, based on these standards, promotes the achievement and maintenance of high levels of safety in applications of nuclear energy, as well as the protection of human health and the environment against ionizing radiation; verifies through its inspection system that States comply with their commitments, under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and other non-proliferation agreements, to use nuclear material and facilities only for peaceful purposes.” (iaea.org)

This article seek to find out why treatable conditions are untreated or under-treated in third world countries despite the plethora of known treatments. The importance of anthropology is emphasized in solving these types of problems.

The article seeks to broaden the vision of the current medical system and structures by acknowledging and delivering care with the knowledge of biosocial effects.

1) Gender violence against humanitarian workers.

2) Gender violence that exists within the humanitarian organizations themselves.

3) How gender violence is interpreted and perceived by different cultures. 

Emergency response is addressed in a variety of different ways in this article. Effectiveness of global response and policy is addressed in modularity. Long-term response vs disaster responses are considered. Effectiveness of global policy is reviewed, such as cases of culling animals and controlling disease in different countries.

1)      How is Ebola best contained? From a report studying how Ebola was handled in Nigeria, there were several practices that were credited with its relatively quick eradication.  "The dense population and overburdened infrastructure create an environment where diseases can be easily transmitted and transmission sustained" (cdc.gov). In Nigeria, all 900 or so people who came in contact with the original patient zero were identified and monitored in isolation. The Nigerian CDC made over 18 thousand visits to screen suspected patients who would be moved to isolated treatment centers if highly suspect. Nigeria also holds a virology laboratory in Lagos University Teaching Hospital which allowed for quick and accurate testing. (http://www.livescience.com/48359-nigeria-how-ebola-was-contained.html)

2)      I also investigated the shooting of the boy who died, and why they shot him and what the circumstances were. I found that the boy, Shakie Kamara, was with a group of people trying to leave the neighborhood— against the government directive quarantine. The soldiers who fired on him and two other men were trying to prevent them from leaving. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/22/world/africa/liberian-boy-dies-after-being-shot-during-clash-over-ebola-quarantine.html)

3)      The last point I investigated further was why it took international aid so long to arrive in West Africa (almost six months). The main reason for the long delay was due to logistics. Sites need to be located to store supplies and medical equipment which has to be transported to their sites in West Africa via underdeveloped roads. Just the transportation alone, mind sake organizing the manpower to run it, is an enormous task. Trying to find trucks, helicopters, and ambulances to move gear and get them in place takes time on the logistics end. "I need everything. I need it everywhere. And I need it super-fast." (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29654974)