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. Jessica Varner (University of Pen
nsylvania)
Title:
Thinking Like a Chem
ical\, Teach-in and Workshop
Abstract:
Join Jes
sica Varner for a teach-in and workshop to think through the challenges of
understanding chemicals beyond the seemingly apolitical periodic table. Thr
ough collaborative writing and the development of a shared bibliography—inc
luding scholarly texts\, archival materials\, artistic practices\, and othe
r relevant sources—participants will interrogate the cultural\, ethical\, a
nd historical dimensions of chemical substances. In response to anthropolog
ist Joseph Dumit's provocation to "think like a substance\," the workshop i
nstead proposes to "think like a chemical" as a methodological pivot to exp
lore the ethical\, cultural\, and historical sources around chemical compou
nds and particulate matter\, and the uneven geographies of toxicity which c
onnect us through the uneasy themes of contamination\, uncertainty\, exposu
res\, body burdens\, geographical unevenness\, new mixtures\, extraction lo
calities\, waste detachment\, colonization\, imperialism\, ethical use\, an
d more. The outcome of this collective effort and interactive\, interdiscip
linary workshop will be a publicly accessible repository of resources to su
pport further research and teaching in critical chemical geographies.
Bio:
Jessica Varner\, PhD\,
is an Assistant Professor of Landscape and Environmental History at the Un
iversity of Pennsylvania (Weitzman School\, Department of Landscape Archite
cture and Regional Planning). Her work explores the intersections between s
ynthetic chemicals\, design histories\, toxicities\, and environmental advo
cacy.
Her current book project\, Chemi cal Desires\, uncovers the ties between corporate chemical firms and c onstruction materials in the United States and Germany at the turn of the t wentieth century. This work received generous support from the Fulbright Fo undation\, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG)\, Nation al Science Foundation\, Science History Institute\, MIT Martin Society of F ellows\, USC Society of Fellows\, Getty Research Institute\, ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies)\, and the Graham Foundation (Carter Manny Di ssertation Award).
Her current projects in clude a book on chemical modernity and toxicity in 20th-century design mate rials\, an essay on mold Stachybotrys chartarum (or black mold)\, an NSF research project on community-led environmental history and cumulati ve exposures\, a co-edited volume on models and a Climate Changed\, a co-ed ited volume on consent/refusal in environmental-right-to-know futures\, and new book research about neurotoxins and material culture in the Global Sou th and U.S. South that considers how self-determination pushed beyond harm and against distanced violence and neurotoxic effects.
She is also a trained architect and has worked collec tively with two non-profit organizations\, the Environmental Data & Governa nce Initiative (EDGI) (researcher and steering committee member since 2019) and Coming Clean (toxics-free coalition member since 2022)\, to center jus tice in toxics policy and turn research into action.
Facilita
tor:
Tam-anh Nguyen (MA student\, UBC Geography)
This is an in person event hosted i
n room 229 Geography.