William Bennett Munro Memorial Seminar
Dabney Hall 110 (Treasure Room)
Throwaway Society? A New Look at the History of Waste and Wasting in Modern and Contemporary History
Frank Trentmann,
Moore Distinguished Scholar, Caltech,
Department of History, Classics and Archaeology,
Birkbeck College, University of London,
That we live in a "throwaway society" is a common complaint. This lecture offers a historical investigation of waste, asking whether people in modern societies have really become more wasteful. It follows the changing qualities as well as quantities of waste. And it places wasting alongside other kinds of disposal and end use, including storage, collecting, repair and re-use. Drawing on Frank Trentmann's forthcoming book, the paper will also discuss the challenges (and opportunities) of writing about consumption across time and space.
For more information, please contact Sabrina Boschetti by phone at Ext. 4228 or by email at [email protected].
Event Series
History Seminar Series