Paper short abstract:

In this presentation, I aim to instigate a discussion about what an anthropology of tropical urbanisms might look like. This might include bringing environmental anthropology into the city to think about 'urban environments' alongside the displacement of the temperate climates of the global north.

Paper long abstract:

Many urban infrastructures carry with them an ecological disposition of the global north. Underground sewers were invented in Paris and London in the late 19th century, incineration of waste is championed by Sweden who claim they have 'run out of waste', and much of the worlds infrastructures continue to rely on a combustive model of energy based on fossil fuels that can be traced back to the invention of thermodynamics in Glasgow in the early 19th century. What might a city look like if it were instead imagined from a tropical environment, and what can anthropology contribute to such an endeavor? Building out of my doctoral fieldwork in Kochi, India and my subsequent engagement with a research collective in Darwin, Australia, I want to think through what an anthropology of tropical urbanisms might look like. In particular, I am interested in generating conversations about pedagogy, method, and multi-modal outputs that engage with imagining an anthropology of tropical urbanisms.