Student: Max Haworth
Graduation date: May 2016
Capstone type: Non-thesis
Capstone project:
Uncharismatic Waste: Addressing Barriers to Visibility of E-waste
Capstone file(s): Show file | Show file | Show file
E-waste is becoming more and more of an issue, with increased usage and access to technologies. Throughout my studies I’ve noticed that there have been large campaign efforts with regard to plastics and litter (plastic-bag bans), while not so much with e-waste. A question that I aim to explore is “Why are people mobilizing against plastics but not necessarily e-waste?”, and “What are factors that are contributing to invisibility of e-waste to the general public? What ways (political, social, artistic, infrastructural) can we revamp the conversation?” I explore this question through a scalar analysis as well as formal interviews looking at E-waste policies and management systems from the international to the state and city scale in Oregon. I also look to the individual scale, particularly at our consumption, bringing theory from Karl Marx, David Harvey and Bob Goldman about commodity fetishism as being a barrier to mobilization around E-waste. A documentary film will be made to synthesize this entire project, along with an accompanying synthesis document.