The Rise and Demise of Equine “Cyborg” Labor
U.S. cities were built with and around horse-human-machine assemblages. Bri Meyer explores the one-time prominence and lasting impact of “cyborg” equine labor on Madison, Wisconsin.
Tagged: Labor
Change of Air Travel & The Commodification of Leisure
What does turn-of-the-century “Change of Air” travel reveal about the role of vacationing in U.S. culture and society today? Alexis Schmidt examines the historical transition of Change of Air from a legitimate medical prescription into a commodified and efficient vacation on the coast—a cultural attitude that persists in “health” vacation narratives to this day.
Is the Outdoor Recreation Boom Too Good to Be True?
The outdoor recreation economy (ORE) is where land, labor, and leisure collide. Mara MacDonell explores the complexities and complications behind the apparent rise of ORE, including housing insecurity, economic inequality, and environmental degradation.
The Chemical Contract
Micaela Edelson reveals the often hidden health costs of pesticide exposure to migrant farmworkers in the United States.
How COVID is Reconfiguring Labor in Extractive Industries
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended global circuits of resource extraction. Brian Ikaika Klein, Stephanie Postar, Laura Dev, Hilary Faxon, and Matthew Libassi tell the story of a gold-filled suitcase to show how.
Finding Connection and Resisting Extraction in Quarantine Gaming
During the COVID-19 pandemic, video games offered Nat Mesnard and many others an escape from isolation. But the false promise of endless productivity in factory building games like Satisfactory ensnared them in a myth of capitalist “progress.”
Tea Gardens and Geographies of Colonial Exploitation
Tea gardens in West Bengal are steeped in legacies of British colonialism. Chandreyi Sengupta, Mrinmoyee Naskar, and Debajit Datta trace the lingering social and environmental impacts of the 19th-century plantation system.
Making a Living with Salt in Divya Victor’s Kith
A poetic and visceral narrative of salt mining in Gujarat, India, Divya Victor’s Kith calls attention to the lives and deaths of salt farmers.
Decolonizing Labor in the Caribbean: A Conversation with Shona Jackson
Dr. Shona Jackson discusses labor in the Caribbean and the need for radical, collective labor histories that include Creole groups and Indigenous peoples.
In Hawaiʻi, Plantation Tourism Tastes Like Pineapple
The Dole pineapple plantation has a destructive history of transforming the Hawaiian Islands. Mallory Huard describes how that continues today in the tourism industry.
