Cultures of Energy

214 - Oil Beach (with Christina Dunbar-Hester)


Listen Later

Dominic and Cymene start off with a review of the new Apple TV Cli-Fi series Extrapolations especially its killer walruses and then recap a chat with German climate activist Luisa Neubauer and former US National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy about how civilizational change is coming, either by design or by disaster. Then [23:51] we are thrilled to have USC’s Christina Dunbar-Hester join us on the podcast to talk about her new book Oil Beach (U Chicago Press, 2023), a study of toxic infrastructure and more-than-human relations in the Los Angeles port complex. We begin with how her interests in media became interests in energy and climate and how underneath silicon there is petroleum. Then, we turn to the challenges of seeing organismic life under the “lethal sublime” of petro/military/industrial infrastructure and to Christina’s concept of “infrastructural vitalism.” We ask: What if pipelines carried water instead of oil? How much of LA’s “green port” mythology is real? We close talking about what Christina means by trans-species supply chain justice” and how one of the LA ports’ greatest products is the making of scale itself. Enjoy, dear listeners, and remember that walruses will save us from all the evil villains of the Anthropocene.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Cultures of EnergyBy Dominic Boyer

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

54 ratings


More shows like Cultures of Energy

View all
On Being with Krista Tippett by On Being Studios

On Being with Krista Tippett

10,358 Listeners

The Political Scene | The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

3,914 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

290 Listeners

Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry by David Naimon, Tin House Books

Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry

443 Listeners

Novara Media by Novara Media

Novara Media

162 Listeners

The Dig by Daniel Denvir

The Dig

1,507 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,619 Listeners

Politics Theory Other by Politics Theory Other

Politics Theory Other

153 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

6,749 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

15,955 Listeners

Acid Horizon by Acid Horizon

Acid Horizon

175 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,302 Listeners

Ones and Tooze by Foreign  Policy

Ones and Tooze

341 Listeners

Ordinary Unhappiness by Patrick & Abby

Ordinary Unhappiness

200 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

311 Listeners