Rubbish? Envisioning a sociolinguistics of waste

(English) As the opening statement in a curated dialogue on Language and Waste, this paper considers what sociolinguistics of waste might look like. In first two parts, I provide some general rationale academic context for starting to notice waste. By avoiding dirty places raw lives waste, sociolinguists obscure important relations: first, social worlds people who live work with/in waste; second, connection between “us” (as makers waste) those left pick up pieces. briefly review isolated precedents sociocultural linguistics attending third fourth propose at least ways can contribute usefully distinctively discard studies. start by offering empirical vignettes concerned with discursive creation destruction value. vein, orienting economic sociology, argue that scholarship stancetaking helpfully pinpoint processes (e)valuation valuation which things are declared unworthy or “waste-able.” Against backdrop these initial propositions, continues commentaries Jillian Cavanaugh, Annabelle Mooney, Joshua Reno their own ideas about approaching from decidedly (socio)linguistic angle. (Afrikaans) die openingsverklaring ’n saamgestelde dialoog oor oorweeg hierdie referaat hoe sosiolinguistiek van afval mag lyk. eerste twee dele verskaf ek algemene rasionaal en akademiese konteks om vermorsing te begin raaksien. Deur vuil plekke rou lewens vermy, verdoesel sosiolinguiste belangrike verhoudings: eerstens, sosiale wêrelde mense wat met/in leef werk; tweedens, verbintenis tussen “ons” afval) diegene agterbly stukke op tel. Ek hersien kortliks paar geïsoleerde presedente sosiokulturele linguistiek vir aandag aan afval. derde vierde stel ten minste maniere voor iets nuttigs Kenmerkend tot studies kan bydra. deur empiriese vignette bied gemoeid is met diskursiewe skepping vernietiging waarde. trant, oog ekonomiese sosiologie, argumenteer dat vakkundigheid prosesse (e)waardering waardasie waardeur dinge onwaardig “vermorsbaar” verklaar word, nuttig bepaal. Teen agtergrond aanvanklike voorstellings, gaan voort drie kommentare Mooney Reno. Elkeen skrywers dra hul eie idees vanuit besliste (sosio)linguistiese hoek benader. … since words were introduced here have gone poorly planet: it's been rivers, all garbage! All Through course his magnificent poem Garbage, A. R. Ammons (1993; quoted above) presents language as being tightly bound such, he connects our pressing concerns environmental collapse profound anxieties death—the wasting bodies. (I will be returning death my conclusion.) For Ammons, there quite literal sense we connect garbage; it found precisely weekly spectacle Swiss life shown Figure 1: newspapers advertising brochures neatly bundled placed curbside pick-up recycling. This language—in its printed, written form—quite tangibly materialized. Words thus thingified (Thurlow & Jaworski, 2017) and, like so many things, must disposed of. more poetic terms, Ammons’ how also producing an excess words. spite produced consumed, however, appear no less touch ourselves world large. Nonetheless, profligate unsatisfactory may be, they often making ourselves—for kind headway. It tension simultaneous insufficiency indispensability sits heart paper. What mostly want do offer series statements hope signal possibilities Given distinctive analytical approach conceptual toolkit, believe something useful transdisciplinary field same token, turning attention everyday practices—big small—of “rubbishing” chance us better understand valuation/devaluation long us. There other critical cultural-political gains had too, mean show. published discussion article Journal Sociolinguistics dialogue. simply turn otherwise open-ended conversation, one immediately three Cavanaugh (2022), (2022). The benefit format four contributors indeed ended lively discussion. Starting Crispin's Jillian, Annabelle, Joshua, proceeded through online meetings explore format's opportunities expectations, but bounce around early ideas. is, came clear already wanted respond gambit (this paper), themselves keen sociolinguistic We now others join conversation. When when touches most visceral registers unsettles us, reminded body's intensities multiplicities. allow see world. (Hawkins, 2006: 121) sociolinguists, rather odds cultural studies, history, anthropology where scholars Hawkins time engaging productively Our disconnect disinterest curious if acknowledge central people's Waste much part makes human is. And “register being” than just metaphorical sense. Any linguists partly way stay date, keep rest humanities sciences. (In playing catch-up regards affect, materiality, embodiment, etc.) scholars, trend. certainly has inherent (and fashionable) value vis-à-vis politics collapse. No question. accompanying surely alliance colleagues engagement climate justice (see Fine Love-Nichols, 2021). More this, proved itself fertile topic enriching existing theoretical various fields. think find true too willing paying One very few memorable moments come across Jeff Kallen's (2010: 43) orientation calls “the detritus zone.” Here, Kallen surfaces nicely unintentional aspects ephemeral dimensions linguistic landscape. inherently waste-related waste-relevant David Karlander's (2019) reflections “semiotics nonexistence.” Although Karlander does not himself make link, practices graffiti erasure undoubtedly implicated dirt (cf Newell Green, 2018) happens, cropped work—somewhat tangential noticed did address directly Adam Jaworski (2010) touched writing tourism discourse. sites was tourist marketplace Gambia struck stall signs made torn off pieces cardboard, recycled rusting metal sheets, crudely assembled bolting devices, on. Among considered playful highly strategic resemioticizations “trash” functioned culture jamming: short, stallholders messing playfully effectively global corporate power. favorite example speaking back power stall-holder's upcycling plastic John Lewis shopping bag tactic branding stall. inexpensive, disposable item only utilitarian affluent consumer core transformed into durable, aestheticizing object considerable symbolic marketing potential—which say, monetary These stories semiotic invention (re)valuation nice instantiations Igor Kopytoff's (1986) biographies: stuff valued, loses value, revalued. words, rubbished place become prized commodities elsewhere. another, explicit appearance work. Published journal, Thurlow (2020) case discourse-centered commodity chain analysis. basis funded project titled Articulating Privilege, current possible Acknowledgments). go detail, principle previous ongoing expand horizons better, up-to-date geographical thinking. Taking Business Class airline meal focus, maps (or value) elite foodways. To end, myself tomato fields, vast catering production facilities, eventually, rubbish dumps management plants. developing me places—fields, factories, dumps—where hardly ventured, all. say moment. topographical backdrop, main objective visible little studied sociolinguistics. attempt imagine envision organized parts. parts reconsider blind spots, especially comes then Then, Parts 3 4, concrete signaling contributing paper, quickly sketched drawn projects students working Ultimately—and perhaps importantly—I use materials showing illuminate key phenomena. Where dirt, system. Dirt by-product systematic ordering classification matter, insofar involves rejecting inappropriate elements. (Douglas, 2002 [1996]:, 36) self-respecting seems complete without Mary Douglas’ (quoted above]) foundational getting orderings clean/unclean pure/impure. sure, Douglas's limitations complications Liboiron, 2019; Reno, 2014); meanings transposed Nor Douglas completely alone her interventions. Regardless, together someone sociologist Michael Thompson (2017 [1979]), establish handling dirt/waste—how manage it—exposes deeper systems order. helps show “matter out place.” relative property stuff. Stuff becomes so. Notwithstanding spatial contingencies, unavoidably relational practice. discursive. inattention surprising; least, missed opportunity field. though, troubling side oversight neglect. richly documented “social history trash,” Susan Strasser (1999) describes late C19th C20th United States. Some famously photographer Hine 2. (More examples US Library Congress website https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/nclc/). Both that, rubbish, life. And, life, language. Yet, geography Northern Milani Lazar, 2017), urban middle-class one.11 endnote (2020), included simple indicator field's restricted imagination: potted survey 522 Society papers 2009. revealed nearly thirds addressed Europe North America; under fifth, South, Southeast, Central, East Asia; leaving fifth Latin America (including Mexico), Australasia, Middle Africa, Africa. obviously implications overlooked; point, Note If consider classes, done self-referential bourgeois lens Lønsmann Kraft, 2018). collective tendency likewise prefer familiar, accessible, “tidy” places. While remote communities Papua New Guinea Upper Amazon endlessly worthy, factory town remains largely unknown. are, course, notable exceptions. example, would call Judith Baxter Kieran Wallace's (2009) discourse-ethnographic construction sites, Leonie Cornips Pieter Muysken's special issue “language mines.” takes unusual, uncomfortable demonstrates kinds insights garnered going—sometimes literally—beneath surface. A obliges “dirty” brings contact “raw lives” Ross, 2015; after Agamben, 1998) ignored disregarded. overlooking types relations obscured: relation (the Needless outside academia job academics avoid. regard, focus 2018 documentary film Welcome Sodom, actually contains powerfully moments.22 Sodom documents living world's largest electronic dump: Agbogbloshie site Accra, Ghana. scene shows young men laughing while flicking photos discarded phone. offers sneak-peek far-flung, charmed phone's original owner. fair, even within wider distance anthropologists Robin Nagle (2014, York garbage collectors), (2016, landfill sites), Giles (2015, dumpster diving) do. Most scholarly engagements distance: treated abstract reflection matter direct, active participation fieldwork. fact nothing matter. know collectors, workers, divers. We, therefore, inevitably “wasted” spaces. still lot yet cover—a recognize dignify how. evidently anything either. Even, research seem primed possibilities. Herein lies another obvious intervention make: documenting detailing meaning “waste” carries force because symbolizes idea improper use, therefore operates moral economy right, good, proper, opposites values between. (Scanlan, 2005: 22) representational and/or got nearer point. waste—to role plays determining ascribe not) things. sorting performative determinations both performances self—our “styles self” 4)—and economies Scanlan, above). Significantly, in—and circulated by—discourse. Everyone must, taught recycling but, before schooling invariably happens contexts talk writing, “documentary regimes” (Cavanaugh, 2016: 691) public family negotiations food Thurlow, Pellanda, Wohlgemuth, press). “textured” (Thomas et al., 2017: 7) or, entextualized. Many via strategic, disingenuous voices commerce commodified incorporated “greenwashing” agendas. good addressing taken discourse-analytic approaches issues sustainability politics. Rom Harré (Harré 1999) study “greenspeak” recently, Richard Alexander (2008) Arran Stibbe (2015) agenda rubric ecolinguistics. Somewhat disappointingly, none explicitly expressly Meanwhile, beyond linguistics, comprehensive volumes Encyclopedia Consumption Waste: Social Science Garbage (Zimring Ratje, 2012) overlook Having said Catherine Patrick O'Hare proposed typology single “rhetoric”). naming labeling refer “registers value” (p. 20) enactments concealments) (re)naming points “a rich array ecological, productive activities.” promising opportunities. contemplating ecolinguistic discourses highlight, neat former students. designed discourse analysis, Noëlle Haudenschild (2021) maps, parses, ultimately debunks major rhetorics so-called zero-waste work, she follows strongly Marxist critiques Matt Huber Marc Kalina class-based contradictions underpinning lifestyle environmentalism. nutshell, capitalism—companies’ desire sell ours buy—makes unavoidable inevitable. “Zero waste” fantasy ideology, tactic. Haudenschild's stands contribution do, should work—other analytic tools moves contribute. different creatures because, once behind, invites new material entanglements. (Reno, 2014: 16) (2014) prominent, new-generation sought push simplistic over-reliance Douglas, example. doing so, posthumanist line, aligns recent turns Pennycook, 2017). animal poop necessarily head myself, am Reno's reference (quote necessity importance specifically, “material entanglements.” entanglements ones artists well, Marcel Duchamp onward to, contemporary Kimiyo Mishima Damien Hirst.33 “waste art,” specifically Mishima's 2021 Charcoal Box (http://www.aipht.artosaka.jp/2016/en/artwork/a-kimiyo-mishima) Hirst's 1994 piece (https://www.damienhirst.com/waste). Artworks theirs inventive exploitations waste's potentials source themselves. spectacular manifestation Sara Goldschmied Eleonora Chiari's 2015 installation Dove andiamo ballare questa sera?, inadvertently provoked furious discourse—about art—when gallery custodian mistook leftovers real party cleaned up. perfect socially constructed nature rubbish—the proverbially blurred line trash treasure. now, merely works art highlight can—and does—function semiotics. used meaning-making resource right. pimple popping videos shared online. “disgusting” (bodily), exceeds usual extent 2016). So, politics, always more-than-representational well. strong alliances sociomaterial (Orlikowski, 2007) interventions linguistics. move mediated analysis Jones Norris, 2005) precedent-setting materiality Shankar 2012). Along lines, quick examples—one student collaborator own—where “takes place” material/materializing identity performances. cases, actions emerge from, help sustain, political economies. Alessandro Pellanda's innovative visual ethnography geosemiotics returns roadside bundles Switzerland, mentioned feature MA thesis, Pellanda essay, day five cities towns way, drawing fieldwork interview data, thereby “spectacles Straw, 2010). case, produce certain “do waste,” individual outwardly projected, Glucksberg, 2014). performing citizenship. everyday, banal normative forms control policing newcomers outsiders. schooled age. Just eating Ochs 1996) dinner-table Blum-Kulka, 1997), frames structures mealtimes. recall childhood grandmother posh one) leave small portion plate prove starving. perfectly classed self-control. alone; dozens discussions length policed children similar ways—or, often, opposite ways. plenty “leftovers” exotic politeness behavior countries. micropolitics dinner prime investigation; trained examine. discourse, surfaced. looking “classy stuff” Frow, 2001), functioning silent nonverbal status. distinction privilege, indebted sociology Pierre Bourdieu (e.g., 1984), Thorstein Veblen's (1994 [1899]) famous conspicuous consumption. Until thought well-known p. 60). notes, order consumption reputable, wasteful noticeably why, meal, “spoils privilege” such luxury throwaways entailed staging premium dining Haudenschild, acts happen moment continue plane landed.44 gloomy treatise Kennedy (2007: 11), feasting scale far ordinary, basic survival. He writes, “The feast [offers] mere excessive consumption, physical incorporation abundance itself.” choice behind—to it—is semiotically politically entangled structural inequality others. interest connecting micro-level macro-level final rubbish. (Thompson, 2017, [1979]: 27) grammar valuations developed [which] merit highlighting dynamics (Vatin, 2013: 47; emphasis mine) Value stance - literally. [It] invokes, implicitly, presupposed enactment reproduction systems. (Du Bois, 2007: 173) take stance, Du Bois notes literally continues, enacts, reproduces Stance, then, holds “dynamics valuations.” require recognizing Bois’ “thingy” object. which, attend self-positioning alignment stancetaking. analytically interesting, significant, presently. recap, tenet theory objects properties, social/relational valuation. (commodities otherwise) given devalued Kopytoff, 1986; Sometimes, price, times worth. entails evaluation obj