Joël Glasman
Joël Glasman focuses on West and Central Africa in the 20th century, particularly colonialism, governmentality, humanitarianism and the production of power as framed by praxis theory and science and technology studies. His publications inquire into social classifications produced by state institutions, international governmentality and private corporations. He further engages with the theory of global history, global norms and colonialism. His last book, Les humanités humanitaires. Manuel d’autodéfense à l’usage des volontaires (2023), reflects on the practical use of the humanities.
Dirty little secrets. Discard labour and the active absence of pollution in the Empire of Waste (French West Africa, 1940-1960)
Joël’s project, Empire of waste, looks at imperialism as a regime of waste built on material exploitation and racial inequalities. Immobilisation, hiding and destruction of waste played a crucial role in imperial domination, as indicated by recent research on toxicity, waste dumping and radioactivity in Africa. It investigates two faces of the ‘Empire of Waste’. First, it analyses French corporate strategies of externalisation of waste and pollution. Second, it scrutinises forms of discard labour used by colonial corporations: forced labour, corvée, prison labour, wage labour, informal labour and child labour.