Differential waste. Waste activism practices and governance in a Sicilian industrial context

Abstract

The article investigates from a historical-ethnographic perspective the current declinations of environmental justice movements in the Syracuse area, an area of eastern Sicily characterized by the presence of a massive petrochemical hub that produces highly impactful effects from an environmental, landscape and health point of view.  It will be shown how, around the issue of industrial waste and its governance, practices and narratives have been built over time that cross and interconnect different spheres of public life, thus contributing to reconfigure the social scope of environmental problems.  The analyses and data presented here are the result of a long-term ethnographic research project-initiated in 2015 and still ongoing today-that was structured in three different moments, corresponding to as many thematic focuses and methodological tools.