Movements, mobilities and the politics of hazardous waste

Abstract

Global flows of hazardous waste and waste management technologies are major sources of environmental contestation. They reflect political structures and struggles within, and between, developed and less developed countries. The 'new mobilities paradigm' is tested using two cases of protest in Malaysia and East Germany. Focusing on the conjunctures of various (im) mobilities, the ways in which political circumstances combine with the materialities of wastes and technologies are shown to affect the trajectories and outcomes of environmental protest. This challenges assumptions that mobilities of objects, people and ideas inevitably undermine governmentality. While the merits of 'mobilities' as a lens for inquiry are acknowledged, greater attention should be paid to the politics of (im) mobilisations.