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Cyborg Horses, Urban Growth and the Changing Nature of Labor

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Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Translation Tuesday! Today on Edge Effects, Nicolás Rueda Rey and Tomás Pino translate @monikaszuba.bsky.social's essay on deep time and the politics of decay. Can we understand geological change and plastic waste in our short lifespan?

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · 6d

Today on Edge Effects, former managing editor Bri Meyer explores the multispecies assemblages that built U.S. cities: how horses were mechanized to perform "cyborg" labor, how these multispecies relationships changed in the automobile era, and the lasting equine footprints in Madison, WI. 🐴🤖

Archives from Madison, Wisconsin show the role of mechanized horses, or equine "cyborg" labor, in the growth of U.S. cities.

Visuals and Verse Across Borders

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · 13d

Today on Edge Effects, poet Ann Fisher-Wirth collaborates with photographer Wilfried Raussert and a team of translators led by Sarli Mercado and @salianoche.bsky.social. This novel "gathering of voices" explores the interconnectedness of people and nature in urban environments. 🎨 📷

Photography of street art across the Americas inspires ekphrastic poems and translations in this unique, cross-national collaboration.

Snapshots of the Anthropocene in Iran

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · 20d

Today on Edge Effects, Angelica Modabber discusses her exhibition, "Water and Oil." Through stunning photographs of peripheral spaces and faces, she explores the topography of memory in Iran: how ecological change, exile, and diaspora is ossified in the land and its inhabitants. 👣 📷

These photographers capture the complex layers of memory, ecological change, identity, and diaspora in the contemporary landscape of Iran.

Faculty Recommendations: Environmental Futures and Futurity

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · 27d

Choose your next read/watch from the favorites of these brilliant thinkers on env. futures and futurity: @sgallini.bsky.social @jessicahurley.bsky.social @ceirr.bsky.social @scobrien.bsky.social @jpietruska.bsky.social Leida Fernández Prieto & Michael Rawson 🫶

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Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · 27d

Today on Edge Effects, scholars from a range of disciplines share books/films they are most excited to teach this year on environmental futures and futurity. Their gift for our present, these recommendations span from science fiction to documentary, speculative poetry to historical exhibit. 📚💭

Faculty recommend books, films, and exhibits that critically examine the construction, utility, and politics of environmental futures.

Knowledge Politics and the Making of Indian Environmental History: A Conversation with Ramachandra Guha - Edge Effects

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Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Sep 4

Today on the Edge Effects podcast, Laleh Ahmad speaks with Ramachandra Guha about his new book, Speaking with Nature (2024). They explore how identity and knowledge politics shape environmentalism and environmental history in India and around the world. 🇮🇳☀️ #envhum #envhist

Ramachandra Guha discusses his new book, Speaking with Nature (2024), and the history of environmental thought in India.

Do Cows Appreciate Poetry? And Other Musings On Our Bovine Friends

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Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 29

Today on Edge Effects, Mia Werger's poetic fieldnotes and stunning drawings bring a powerful conclusion to our Companion Species series. While befriending feedlot cattle, Werger reflects on the more-than-human experience, surviving amidst hopelessness, and dreaming of a free tomorrow. 🐄🖤

These poetic fieldnotes on befriending feedlot cattle reflect on our broken food system and life under constraint.

Humanizing Migrants and Miners of Southern Africa - Edge Effects

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Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 24

Today on Edge Effects, Christopher Conz and Christina Balch mesh archival documents with art to humanize the migrant mining workers of southern Africa. Their exhibit draws attention to the systems of extractive capitalism that demonize migrants around the world. 📜🎨

This multimedia exhibit aims to humanize the stories of migrant mining workers of Southern Africa using archives and art.

Is Seasteading Another Word for Colonialism?

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 22

Today on Edge Effects, @poisoniv3y.bsky.social draws parallels between contemporary libertarian visions and oceanic colonialism of the 19th century. Seasteading may seem like futuristic science fiction, but Robert Stevenson's The Ebb-Tide offers grave warnings about how this old idea plays out. 🛳️🏖️

Libertarian's interest in seasteading parallels nineteenth century oceanic colonialism, as represented by Robert Stevenson’s The Ebb-Tide.

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Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 17

Benjamin Chin-Hung Kao is a Ph.D. student in Geography from Brazil and Taiwan at the UW-Madison. Kao’s doctoral project explores Transpacific settler colonial geographies of Pokémon and its worlds. 🐻 Read his full essay here: edgeeffects.net/bears-in-jap...

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 17

The bears of popular Japanese-based video games, in particular, animate contemporary colonialism.

"Video games invite players to reenact the process of erasure through play. By simulating colonial history, players become active participants in its present."

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 17

"Bear-related products are not a celebration of Ainu identity. Rather, the commercialization of Indigenous imagery facilitates the transformation of Ainu Lands into Hokkaido: culturally and economically."

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 17

The Indigenous Ainu people of Japan are imbued by artists and scholars "with bear-like characteristics, like hairiness, to emphasize their wildness. ... Western scholars have characterized Ainu as of the wild and threat to the wild, both bear-like and enemy to bears."

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 17

"Bears in Japanese popular culture are not just cute or kitschy. They accompany us as we experience haunting histories and presents of colonial violence."

The Dark History of Kitschy Japanese Bears

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 17

Today on Edge Effects, our Companion Species series continues with Benjamin Chin-Hung Kao's excavation of the history of bears in Japanese popular culture. From Indigenous symbol to colonial icon, these charismatic mascots belie Japan's violent political history.

Despite their often-cutesy appearance, the bears of Japanese popular culture are part of the country's violent colonial history and present.

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 10

Jerald Lim is a queer, Singaporean Chinese, new media artist and poet playing in the intersections of the ecological, computational, and poetic. ☀️ Read and listen to their poems here! edgeeffects.net/twin-cinema/

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 10

"'roots' narrates the encounter between two seedlings whose roots meet in the underground mushroom mesh. Excited by their encounter, they dream of a larger family reunion."

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 10

"'aspen study' emerges from my observations of the bustle and drama unfolding on and around one of the aspen trees at the University of Utah over a week in August."

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 10

"Twin cinema makes for a good companion to not only think through, but also practice multispecies companionship. As I move to portray the rhizomatic qualities of plant life, I am simultaneously guided by them."

Twin Cinema: A Poetics for Plant Companionship

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 10

Today on Edge Effects, Jerald Lim uses the twin cinema, a poetic form that originates from Singapore, to (re)present the perspectives and vibrancy of our plant companions. The rhizomatic structure of their poems help us imagine a world beyond dualism. 🍄🌳

Twin cinema, a poetic practice from Singapore, mimics rhizomatic entanglements and inspires alternative plant-human companionship.

Axolotls trouble Western dualisms. As god, pet, and research subject, these creatures tell us about science, companionship, and futures.

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Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jul 3

A conniving, dog-headed god to the Aztecs and a cutesy "water puppy" in today's popular imagination, axolotls have a tumultuous history with humans. In today's Companion Species installment, Alex Ventimilla explores how these creatures trouble Western categories and dualisms. 🦎🐶

The God in the Aquarium

Play Nature in These Six (More) Board Games

Edge Effects @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social · Jun 26

Today on Edge Effects, Nate Carlin is back with a review of six more of the latest nature-themed board games. What do these quintessential constructions of nature reveal about how we understand and relate to the environment? Nate plays with these ideas and more. 🌲♟️
edgeeffects.net/latest-envir...

Nate Carlin is back to review six (more) nature-themed board games: the worlds they construct and the ecological stories they tell.