This chapter explores how research on the entanglements of air and breath might attend to inequalities born of geography and colonial history. To do so we share the story of Sensora, a transnational, trans-hemispheric, and trans-institutional air quality monitoring project, and its relationship to the breathing conditions of the undeserved community of Villa Inflamable (Flammable), Argentina, to develop insights on “breathing inequalities.” For us, “breathing inequalities” is about recognizing material differences in breathing and establishing ways of researching that foreground these differences to work toward more breathable futures. To elaborate “breathing inequalities,” we explore two “ambient inequalities,” or airy/historical conditions, which predated our research and informed our collaboration on the Sensora project, namely: (i) histories of UK/Argentina colonial relations and (ii) power relations in North/South scholarly collaboration. Our attempts to intervene in these ambient inequalities produced unusual research measures, “poetic ironies” in research processes, and reflect the “roadblocks” and “checkpoints” of transnational, interdisciplinary collaboration. Ultimately, we find that the resources of South American feminisms, with their focus on the re-signification, renegotiation, and the migration of ideas across borders, are particularly suited to navigating inequalities of breath as a material and narrative element of knowledge production.

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Breathing Inequalities

  • Débora Swistun,
  • Sasha Engelmann

摘要

This chapter explores how research on the entanglements of air and breath might attend to inequalities born of geography and colonial history. To do so we share the story of Sensora, a transnational, trans-hemispheric, and trans-institutional air quality monitoring project, and its relationship to the breathing conditions of the undeserved community of Villa Inflamable (Flammable), Argentina, to develop insights on “breathing inequalities.” For us, “breathing inequalities” is about recognizing material differences in breathing and establishing ways of researching that foreground these differences to work toward more breathable futures. To elaborate “breathing inequalities,” we explore two “ambient inequalities,” or airy/historical conditions, which predated our research and informed our collaboration on the Sensora project, namely: (i) histories of UK/Argentina colonial relations and (ii) power relations in North/South scholarly collaboration. Our attempts to intervene in these ambient inequalities produced unusual research measures, “poetic ironies” in research processes, and reflect the “roadblocks” and “checkpoints” of transnational, interdisciplinary collaboration. Ultimately, we find that the resources of South American feminisms, with their focus on the re-signification, renegotiation, and the migration of ideas across borders, are particularly suited to navigating inequalities of breath as a material and narrative element of knowledge production.