Refusing Sustainability : Race and Environmentalism in a Changing Europe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Resnick, Elana.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romanies--Bulgaria--Social conditions.

Romanies.

Racism against Romanies--Bulgaria.

Racism against Romanies.

Refuse and refuse disposal--Bulgaria--Employees.

Refuse and refuse disposal.

Sustainability--Social aspects--Bulgaria.

Sustainability.

Environmental policy--Social aspects--Bulgaria.

Environmental policy.

Bulgaria--Race relations.

Bulgaria.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (298 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Redwood City : Stanford University Press, 2025.

Summary:

"Sustainability has become a touchstone for development worldwide, promising an antidote to environmental degradation and capitalism's excess: waste. Refusing Sustainability presents a fundamentally different account of sustainability and waste itself by uncovering the intersections of international environmental reforms and racialized labor. In Bulgaria, Roma comprise the bulk of the country's waste workers, while anti-Roma racism casts them as socially disposable. Without their labor, however, the country cannot meet the sustainability targets required by the European Union. Drawing on fieldwork that spans twenty years, including 11 months working alongside Romani women street sweepers, and years embedded in waste organizations, political campaigns, Roma NGOs, and activist groups, Elana Resnick analyzes the power hierarchies at play in both waste management and European expansion projects. Simultaneously, she examines how communities racialized as discardable push back against a system that relies on and excludes them. Instead of focusing on only environmental harms or toxic distributions, Refusing Sustainability approaches Romani life-worlds as spaces of creative production. Resnick tells the stories of ordinary people who reject the status quo--the conditions of what she calls racial sustainability. Through their experiences, she also tells several larger stories: of postsocialist racial capitalism, environmental progressivism, Europeanization, the failure of democratic politics, neighborhood mutual aid, and the power of women's friendships"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Front Cover

Half-title

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Language and Terminology

Note on Illustrations

Introduction

1. Waste and Race

2. Recycling

3. Surveillance

4. Voting

5. Friendship

Conclusion: Running Water in the Land of Spitting Dragons

Notes

References

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-5036-4126-0

OCLC:

1525621545