CISSR invites you to attend a book talk for Sarah Newman on October 11, 2023. Sarah Newman will be in a roundtable discussion with Claudia Brittenham, Pauline Goul, and Mariana Petry Cabral about her new book.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

About the book: 

Explores the concept of waste from fresh historical, cultural, and geographical perspectives.

Garbage is often assumed to be an inevitable part and problem of human existence. But when did people actually come to think of things as “trash”—as becoming worthless over time or through use, as having an end?

Unmaking Waste tackles these questions through a long-term, cross-cultural approach. Drawing on archaeological finds, historical documents, and ethnographic observations to examine Europe, the United States, and Central America from prehistory to the present, Sarah Newman traces how different ideas about waste took shape in different times and places. Newman examines what people consider to be “waste” and how they interact with it, as well as what happens when different perceptions of trash come into conflict. Conceptions of waste have shaped forms of reuse and renewal in ancient Mesoamerica, early modern ideas of civility and forced religious conversion in New Spain, and even the modern discipline of archaeology. Newman argues that centuries of assumptions imposed on other places, times, and peoples need to be rethought. This book is not only a broad reconsideration of waste; it is also a call for new forms of archaeology that do not take garbage for granted. Unmaking Waste reveals that waste is not—and never has been—an obvious or universal concept.

This event is co-sponsored by Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization (CEGU) and Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS).

Persons with disabilities who may need assistance should contact International House in advance of the program at (773) 753-2274 or i-house-programs@uchicago.edu.