Link to Session Platform

Chairs(s):

Matthew Archer, The Graduate Institute Geneva

; Sayd Randle, University of California Berkeley

Description:

Storage is an increasingly important dimension of contemporary social, political, ecological, and economic relations. Although Marx observed in Volume 2 of Capital that storage nodes are deeply imbricated in the production and circulation of capitalist value, more recent configurations of storage that seek to mitigate or adapt to the impacts of global climate change are in the process of rapidly rearranging spatial politics at multiple scales. In a wide range of contexts, flows and environments will be shaped by the pursuit of large and small-scale storage for electricity sourced from renewable sources, data storage, carbon sequestration, repositories for nuclear and other highly toxic wastes, and stockpiled water, to name just a few examples. These efforts to hold matter in place reshape landscapes, spatial politics, and economic relations, raising important questions about the diverse values, times, and materialities of storage. This panel features papers that use empirically grounded, theoretically rich case studies to examine these connections, illuminating how storage arrangements are embedded in contemporary processes of capital accumulation and spatial production.

Storage is a future-oriented project. The production and maintenance of reserve materials is rooted in the anticipation of an often-undefined moment of need. Recent years have tightened the relationship between this generalized anticipatory mode and particular fears of disruptions to arrangements of circulation, with reserves and stockpiles figuring as buffers against systemic shocks that could halt the unimpeded flows of people, resources, and goods. Yet recent work highlights the extent to which the perceived ‘need’ to circulate stored material is mediated by both its market valuation and the infrastructure and space available for holding that material in place. Such findings suggest that the relationship between storage, circulation, value, and space should be approached as an open question rather than a settled matter. With this in mind, our contributors attend to the complex materiality and temporality of storage. Recent geographical work on the topic emphasizes the importance of attending to the more-than-human vitality of storage arrangements, as well as their complex, pluritemporal character. The liveliness of stored material prefigures the infrastructures and practices necessary to hold it in place, often creating complex, resource-intensive configurations and surprising entanglements. Meanwhile, the passage of time can represent both a threat and an opportunity to matter held in reserve, where the risk of decay is offset by the possibility of a stockpile’s value appreciating dramatically.

Non-Presenting Participants Agenda