This blog is about my research and about being in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I study recent urban history and I study trash. The Orwell quote captures most of my fascination with trash, if I am reading it correctly. Orwell wrote it in The Road to Wigan Pier after visiting industrial northern England and reflecting on the poor living conditions of the workers there. I guess I assume that Orwell is presenting a somewhat cynical view of “liberty” that’s nearest synonym may be “capitalism” and therefore reflecting on quite a wide range of “dirt” that necessarily accompanies its various forms. I guess then its easiest to say I am interested in waste and wasting in modern economies and cultures and I think in Africa there are many interesting forms of both to consider…from why there is trash on the street, to governmental waste and corruption, to transnational relationships where Africa is often treated as a wasted continent.

Arriving here for research though tears away much of the security blanket of research questions. My topic is recent, ongoing and ubiquitous...it lacks right now much of a fixed historical point, it is too big to manage and not obvious where to start, especially in a place where i have so little cultural traction. This blog will probably just be pictures for family and friends but maybe it'll also be some sort of research repository as i try to figure things out.