Panelists will draw from their studies both in Canada and internationally to highlight the lives and livelihoods reproduced, sustained and compromised by the circulations and politics of waste.
Dr Kesha Fevrier is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University. Her research unfolds broadly at the intersection of race and space, through the systematic study of waste making and unmaking strategies. She is particularly interested in how this relationship informs the everyday lived experiences of marginalized groups in the global South.
Dr Mohammed Rafi Arefin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. He researches and teaches urban environmental politics with a specific focus on waste, sanitation, and inequality. His research on Cairo’s solid waste and sewage systems has appeared in the journals Antipode, Progress in Human Geography, and the Annals of the American Association of Geographers. His new project examines how the relationship between waste, health, and urban governance is shifting in light of developments in fields of wastewater-based epidemiology.
Dr. Josie Wittmer is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Geography & Planning at Queen’s University. She is a feminist urban researcher and educator exploring processes of urban development and change, particularly as urban imaginaries and governance mechanisms intersect with gender, caste, class, religion, and politics in South Asian cities.