New Books in East Asian Studies

Anna Lora-Wainwright, "Resigned Activism: Living with Pollution in Rural China" (MIT Press, 2021)

Oct 20, 2024

In this engaging discussion, Anna Lora-Wainwright, a Professor of Human Geography of China at Oxford, delves into the complexities of living with pollution in rural China. She introduces the concept of 'resigned activism'—a poignant blend of acceptance and subtle resistance among communities facing severe environmental challenges. Personal stories illuminate the emotional toll of pollution, while her research highlights the resilience of these communities. Lora-Wainwright critiques systemic inequalities and emphasizes the often-overlooked dignity and agency of individuals struggling against toxicity.

50:37

Episode guests

Anna Lora-Wainwright

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Quick takeaways

Resigned activism demonstrates how individuals in rural China engage in subtle resistance against pollution through everyday practices, despite feeling powerless.

Cultural expressions like 'may banfa' reflect the complex emotions of resignation and critique surrounding systemic failures related to environmental degradation.

Deep dives

The Concept of Resigned Activism

Resigned activism embodies the idea that individuals can engage in subtle forms of resistance and agency even when faced with environmental hardships. This concept highlights the continuum between traditional activism, such as protests, and quieter actions like wearing masks or purchasing bottled water during pollution episodes. It focuses on how marginalized communities adapt their behaviors and expectations in response to environmental challenges, demonstrating that even small actions reflect a form of engagement with their circumstances. By analyzing these nuances, the notion of resigned activism challenges stereotypes about inaction and emphasizes the importance of everyday decisions in the context of systemic issues.

Intro

2min

Navigating Resigned Activism

17min

Capturing Community Resilience: Long-Term Perspectives on Pollution

4min

Activism and Agency in Rural China

16min

Navigating Activism and Environmental Challenges in Rural China

3min

Navigating Environmental Health and Academic Wellness

5min

Resigned Activism: Living with Pollution in Rural China (MIT Press, 2021) by Dr. Anna Lora-Wainwright digs deep into the paradoxes, ambivalences, and wide range of emotions and strategies people develop to respond to toxicity in everyday life.

An examination of the daily grind of living with pollution in rural China and of the varying forms of activism that develop in response. Residents of rapidly industrializing rural areas in China live with pollution every day. Villagers drink obviously tainted water and breathe visibly dirty air, afflicted by a variety of ailments—from arthritis to nosebleeds—that they ascribe to the effects of industrial pollution. In Resigned Activism, Anna Lora-Wainwright explores the daily grind of living with pollution in rural China and the varying forms of activism that develop in response. This revised edition offers expanded acknowledgment of the contributions of Lora-Wainwright’s collaborators in China. Lora-Wainwright finds that claims of health or environmental damage are politically sensitive, and that efforts to seek redress are frustrated by limited access to scientific evidence, growing socioeconomic inequalities, and complex local realities. Villagers, feeling powerless, often come to accept pollution as part of the environment; their activism is tempered by their resignation. Drawing on fieldwork done with teams of collaborators, Lora-Wainwright offers three case studies of “resigned activism” in rural China, examining the experiences of villagers who live with the effects of phosphorous mining and fertilizer production, lead and zinc mining, and electronic waste processing.

The book also includes extended summaries of the in-depth research carried out by Ajiang Chen and his team in some of China’s “cancer villages,” village-sized clusters of high cancer incidence. These cases make clear the staggering human costs of development and the deeply uneven distribution of costs and benefits that underlie China’s economic power.

Dr. Elena Sobrino is a lecturer in Anthropology at Tufts University. Her research focuses on the politics of crisis in the American Rust Belt. She is currently teaching classes on science and technology studies, theories and ethnographies of crisis, and global racisms. You can read more about her work at elenasobrino.site.

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