Paper Short Abstract:

Air, vital for life, is often polluted. Clean energy efforts to reduce pollution from cooking fuels are often overlooked by people engaged in such practices. I concentrate on breath to offer a distinct lens and explore how people in Langas (Kenya) perceive air pollution as a distant issue.

Paper Abstract:

Choy (2012) defines air as the "thing that is nothing", owing to its elusive nature. Paradoxically, air serves as the carrier of life's most essential element, oxygen. 99% of the global population breathes air being laden with substances that are detrimental to health (WHO, 2023). Air becomes visible only through encounters with tangible elements (smoke, dust, odours) and its elusive nature has historically led to the neglect of air pollution by both academics and affected communities.

This paper ethnographically explores how people of Langas, a Kenyan informal settlement, experience and perceive air pollution. Clean energy interventions, like LPG gas bottles, have been prioritized to mitigate pollution from cooking with traditional fuels (firewood, charcoal, kerosene). Nonetheless, air pollution remains a distant concern for communities, often attributed to external sources rather than domestic energy practices. The health effects of combusting polluting fuels are protracted in time and challenging to witness for those exposed daily. Resulting cardiovascular and respiratory diseases lack a discernible cause and count as “wicked illnesses” (Yates-Doerr, 2020).

This paper focuses on breath—the most universal of human experiences (Oxley & Russell, 2020)—as an entry point to examine how air pollution is perceived and experienced through inhaling and exhaling. The effects of air pollution on breath (coughing, wheezing, sense of suffocation) constitute the "experiential meanings" (Bourdieu, 1990), shaping individuals' understanding of health, pollution, and danger. This novel approach unveils the intricate biosocial interactions between people and air pollution, offering a tangible perspective on an otherwise elusive but concerning issue.