This event is part of the A tmospheric Apparitions mini-symposium on Sept 18-19 2025. It is is free and open to the public. We encourage you to visit the departmental Atmospheric Apparitions: Particle Pollutants – Dust\, Ash\, Smog and Smoke! exhibition in the Liu Lobby Gallery on view from July 21-Sept 26\, 2025.
Speaker
:
Dr. Elsa Noterman (University of Nottingham)
Counter-Cartographies of Atmospheric Trespass
Abstract:
In my work on the ‘fugitive dust’ of urb
an development\, I trace the indeterminate trajectories of toxic lead dust
as it traverses property’s spatio-temporal limits\, therein disrupting raci
alized notions of ‘improvement’ and refiguring questions of socioenvironmen
tal justice. In this talk\, I build on this work by considering efforts to
map\, and thus manage\, vertical property boundaries\, and how ‘trespassing
’ materialities can help us think differently about normative ownership reg
imes and their associated socio-spatial relations. Specifically\, examining
efforts to map toxic dust in the city of Philadelphia amidst broader trend
s to claim and regulate ownership of airspace\, I explore the following que
stions: What challenges emerge in efforts to map (and manage) atmospheric p
articulates that continually re/circulate over time and space\, and what ca
n these challenges tell us about the ways that we imagine and seek to polic
e property boundaries? And what kinds of atmospheric counter-cartographies
might allow us to illustrate the porosity and changeability of spatial and
temporal boundaries\, and contest normative models of property?
Bio:
Elsa Noterman is an Assista
nt Professor in Human Geography at the University of Nottingham. Her resear
ch considers questions related to everyday collective struggles over land a
nd housing. To examine these questions\, she draws on critical legal\, femi
nist\, decolonial and antiracist theories of property and social reproducti
on\, as well as her background in community organizing\, public education\,
and community development. Elsa’s research bridges conversations in the so
cial sciences and humanities\, and draws on qualitative\, critical cartogra
phic\, and participatory research methods. She has formerly held a faculty
position at Queen Mary University of London and a research fellowship at th
e University of Cambridge. Elsa received a PhD and MS in Geography at the U
niversity of Wisconsin-Madison.
Respondent:
Bella Pojuner\, Ph
D Candidate\, UBC Geography
This is an i n person event hosted in room 229 Geograp hy.
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