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Waste: A Symposium

When:
Venue: Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square

No booking required

Confirmed keynote speakers:

Professor Esther Leslie (Birkbeck, University of London)
Dr Leo Mellor (University of Cambridge)
Dr Rachele Dini (UCL / University of Cambridge)

This one-day interdisciplinary event will make visible the untold story of waste by exploring its representations, both material and metaphorical, within contemporary culture. Through an investigation of waste's presence (or lack thereof) within modern life, this conference will disrupt the entrenched value judgements surrounding objects, places and people otherwise deemed redundant. By exploring how we create, classify and treat waste material this discussion will simultaneously review and challenge the ethics of human waste(-ing); the marginalisation of populations rendered disposable within a globalised socio-economic framework. Calling on related discourses from the arts, social sciences, medical humanities and beyond, this symposium will bring together a diverse mix of academics, artists and industry experts to share insights on a (waste) matter that impacts and implicates us all.

The event will be free to attend but please register using this Eventbrite link, with lunch and refreshments provided on the day and a drinks reception for attendees and speakers in the evening.

Following the conference, there will be the opportunity to submit papers for a Special Collection in the Open Library of Humanities (8000 words, peer reviewed) and Alluvium Journal (2000 words, non-peer reviewed).