Call to join panel on plastic transitions at Petrocultures conference 2018 Dear all,
We would like to draw your attention to a panel proposal, which is to be part of the PETROCULTURES 2018: TRANSITIONS conference at the University of Glasgow on Aug 29 – Sep 1, 2018 (http://petrocultures.com/cfp-petrocultures-2018-transitions/) The panel is titled 'Plastic transitions? Stability and change in our contemporary petro-plastic order' and is organized by Tobias Nielsen (Lund University), Johannes Stripple (Lund University) and Gay Hawkins (Western Sydney University). The deadline for the abstract submission is February 2, but paper submissions for this panel are likely to be able to join at a slightly later stage. Panel Abstract Plastics are a quintessential petroculture. The definitive material of modernity: omnipresent and infrastructural in everything from food, to building, to health services. Economies of plastic range from the disposable to the durable and are made up of diverse industries and distinctive markets; from massive transnational petrochemical industrial complexes to biobased start-ups. Plastic production is intertwined with fossil fuel production. Non-fossil fuel based plastics (bioplastic) make up less than 1% of global plastic production, while the recent shale-gas boom has accelerated “petro-plastic” production investment, which is likely to lead to a 40% increase in production over the next decade. Despite this, the challenges of ‘decarbonising’ the plastic system have received relatively little attention. This panel invites papers that grapple with stability and change in the contemporary petro-plastic order. More analysis is needed of what makes plastic worlds so robust. What kinds of material and political forces hold petro-plastic orders together? Which institutional systems and everyday practices create and maintain stability around plastic economies? We also urgently need better investigations of potential transitions. What kinds of interventions have begun to take place with potentially disruptive consequences? While there is no intergovermental plastic treaty, attempts to govern plastics consumption (e.g. bans, taxes, information) are emerging all over the world. What is the significance of such interventions? How could new kinds of materials (e.g. bioplastic) and new forms of consumption (no straws) spur new transformative pathways? And does placing the burden on consumers let plastic producers avoid responsibility? What kinds of plastic transitions are feasible or even desirable? Please contact Tobias Nielsen or me if you are interested in joining this panel on a ‘new’ emerging field of plastic politics. Best regards, Tobias and Johannes Johannes Stripple Dept. of Political Science Lund University, Sweden +46 46 708197129 (mobile) http://www.svet.lu.se/en/johannes-stripple -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
