Weather
e-flux reader, 2020
image courtesy of e-flux
Lockdown measures imposed to prevent the further escalation of the Covid-19 crisis have led to a slight decrease of anthropogenic emissions into the atmosphere. However, behind these seemingly positive environmental effects lie mass losses of human life. These events point to the realities of contemporary weather conditions which allow some communities to flourish while forcing others to languish. Black studies and Feminist scholar Christina Sharpe proposes an expansion of the meteorological notion of weather to consider the socio-economic, political, and cultural climates tethered to the histories of (neo-)colonialism. What infrastructures sustain modes of weather making? How do residues of various environments settle in the bodies? In what ways have collective microclimates enacted resistance against certain weather conditions? The texts selected in this reader provide careful observations, critical remarks, and subversive comments in response to these questions.