Chloe Ahmann, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University, dives into the complex history of pollution in South Baltimore. She discusses the enduring effects of industrial decay and local activism aimed at creating a sustainable future. The conversation highlights generational divides in aspirations, revealing how nostalgia shapes community narratives. Ahmann also explores the intertwining themes of hope and despair among residents, emphasizing youth-led movements that seek to combat environmental injustices and envision a brighter tomorrow.
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Author's Personal Connection to Curtis Bay
Chloe Ahmann started working in Curtis Bay by teaching first graders near a large coal terminal, directly witnessing pollution's impact.
Her decade-long research deeply connects with community struggles against industrial pollution and uncertain futures.
insights INSIGHT
Challenges of Slow Violence Activism
Slow violence from pollution is harder to organize against due to its invisible, gradual harm.
Yet activism can create events to reveal these harms and resist becoming background noise.
insights INSIGHT
Complexity of Nostalgia in Curtis Bay
Older and younger residents have distinct aspirations shaped by their experience of industrial decline.
Nostalgia is complex, reflecting material losses rather than yearning for a flawless past.
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Parable of the Talents is the sequel to Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower and continues the story of Lauren Olamina, the founder of the Earthseed movement. The novel is set in a dystopian America where Lauren has established a community called Acorn, centered around her Earthseed beliefs. However, Acorn is attacked and taken over by the Christian American 'Crusaders,' leading to the enslavement and brutal treatment of its members. The story is told through journal entries by Lauren, her husband Taylor Franklin Bankole, and her daughter Larkin Olamina (also known as Asha Vere). It explores themes of survival, faith, and the struggle against oppression, as well as the complexities of religious power and the human quest for purpose. The novel ultimately sees the rise of Earthseed as a powerful religious movement and Lauren's vision of humanity's destiny to colonize other planets[2][3][5].
Parable of the Sower
Octavia Butler
Published in 1993, 'Parable of the Sower' is a dark and vivid portrayal of a future where global climate change and economic crises have led to social chaos. The story is told through the diary entries of Lauren Olamina, a 15-year-old Black girl living in a gated community near Los Angeles. Lauren suffers from hyperempathy, a condition that makes her feel the pain and pleasure of others. As her community is destroyed by external threats, Lauren embarks on a perilous journey north, developing a new faith called Earthseed along the way. Earthseed's central doctrine is that 'God is Change' and cannot be resisted, but can be influenced. The novel explores themes of survival, faith, family, hope, and community in a world torn apart by environmental devastation, economic collapse, and violence.
Futures after Progress
Futures after Progress
Hope and Doubt in Late Industrial Baltimore
Chloe Ahmann
Chloe Ahmann's "Futures After Progress" examines the complex legacy of industrialization in Curtis Bay, Baltimore. The book interweaves archival research with ethnographic fieldwork, documenting the community's experiences with pollution and its impact on residents' health and aspirations. Ahmann explores the tensions between different generations and racial groups regarding the community's future, highlighting the challenges of organizing against slow violence. The narrative incorporates speculative elements, imagining potential futures for Curtis Bay based on various scenarios. Ultimately, the book offers a nuanced perspective on the relationship between hope, doubt, and the pursuit of a just future in a post-industrial landscape.
Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Rob Nixon
Rob Nixon's "Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor" examines the insidious and often overlooked forms of environmental violence that unfold slowly and insidiously. The book challenges the conventional understanding of violence as a sudden and spectacular event, highlighting the devastating long-term effects of environmental degradation on marginalized communities. Nixon explores various case studies, demonstrating how slow violence disproportionately affects vulnerable populations and undermines their ability to resist environmental injustices. The book's central argument is that slow violence is a form of violence that demands attention and action, urging readers to recognize and address its devastating consequences. Nixon's work has significantly influenced discussions on environmental justice and the need for a more comprehensive understanding of environmental violence.
Nostalgia and Its Discontents
Nostalgia and Its Discontents
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Svetlana Boym
Svetlana Boym's "Nostalgia and Its Discontents" explores the multifaceted nature of nostalgia, moving beyond simplistic notions of longing for a romanticized past. The book distinguishes between two types of nostalgia: restorative nostalgia, which seeks to recapture a lost past, and reflective nostalgia, which acknowledges the complexities and contradictions of the past while engaging with its legacy. Boym examines how nostalgia shapes individual and collective identities, influencing political and cultural landscapes. The book delves into the psychological and social dimensions of nostalgia, analyzing its role in memory, identity formation, and the construction of national narratives. Boym's work offers a nuanced and insightful exploration of nostalgia's complex and often contradictory nature.
Factory fires, chemical explosions, and aerial pollutants have inexorably shaped South Baltimore into one of the most polluted places in the country. In Futures After Progress: Hope and Doubt in Late Industrial Baltimore(U Chicago Press, 2024), anthropologist Chloe Ahmann explores the rise and fall of industrial lifeways on this edge of the city and the uncertainties that linger in their wake. Writing from the community of Curtis Bay, where two hundred years of technocratic hubris have carried lethal costs, Ahmann also follows local efforts to realize a good future after industry and the rifts competing visions opened between neighbors.
Examining tensions between White and Black residents, environmental activists and industrial enthusiasts, local elders and younger generations, Ahmann shows how this community has become a battleground for competing political futures whose stakes reverberate beyond its six square miles in a present after progress has lost steam. And yet—as one young resident explains — “that’s not how the story ends.” Rigorous and moving, Futures after Progress probes the deep roots of our ecological predicament, offering insight into what lies ahead for a country beset by dreams deferred and a planet on the precipice of change.
Futures after Progress is available in Open Access here.Mentioned in this episode:
Ahmann, Chloe and Anand Pandian. 2024. “The Fight Against Incineration is a Chance to Right Historic Wrongs.” Baltimore Beat, June 26.
Ahmann, Chloe. 2024. “Curtis Bay Residents Deserve a Coal-free Future.” Baltimore Sun, February 18.
Boym, Svetlana. 2007. “Nostalgia and Its Discontents.” Hedgehog Review 9(2).
Butler, Octavia. 1993. Parable of the Sower. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
Butler, Octavia. 1998. Parable of the Talents. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
Nixon, Rob. 2011. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard University Press.
Weston, Kath. 2021. “Counterfactual Ethnography: Imagining What It Takes to Live Differently.” AIBR: Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana 16(3): 463–87.
Chloe Ahmann is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University. Her work explores what efforts to think and enact environmental futures look like from the sedimented space of late industrialism.
Liliana Gilis Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies (STS) at The Ohio State University. [please link my name.
Special thanks to Brittany Halley, Nikoo Karimi, Abigail Musch, Kate Roos, and Koray Sackan, who helped prepare this interview in the Comparative Studies Seminar in Technology and Culture.
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