Explores the concept of waste from fresh historical, cultural, and
geographical perspectives.
Garbage is often assumed to be an inevitable part and problem of human
existence. But when did people actually come to think of things as
"trash"--as becoming worthless over time or through use, as having an
end?
Unmaking Waste tackles these questions through a long-term,
cross-cultural approach. Drawing on archaeological finds, historical
documents, and ethnographic observations to examine Europe, the United
States, and Central America from prehistory to the present, Sarah Newman
traces how different ideas about waste took shape in different times and
places. Newman examines what people consider to be "waste" and how they
interact with it, as well as what happens when different perceptions of
trash come into conflict. Conceptions of waste have shaped forms of
reuse and renewal in ancient Mesoamerica, early modern ideas of civility
and forced religious conversion in New Spain, and even the modern
discipline of archaeology. Newman argues that centuries of assumptions
imposed on other places, times, and peoples need to be rethought. This
book is not only a broad reconsideration of waste; it is also a call for
new forms of archaeology that do not take garbage for granted. Unmaking
Waste reveals that waste is not--and never has been--an obvious or
universal concept.
