Publications
Books -
Hird, M.J. The Public Sociology of Waste. Bristol University Press (under contract and in preparation).
Hird, M.J. Canada’s Waste Flow. McGill-Queen’s University Press. McGill-Queen’s University Press (in press).
Rollins, Y. and Kuyvenhoven, C. (eds.) Throw Away Societies: People, Places, and Waste. Ashgate Publishing (forthcoming).
Articles in Refereed Journals -
Yoshizawa, R. and Hird, M.J. (2019) ‘Schrödinger’s Placenta: Determining Placentas as (Not)Waste’ Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, pp.1-17.
Wilkes, J. and Hird, M.J. (2019) ‘Colonial Ideologies of Waste: Implications for Land and Life’, Europenow special issue ‘Confronting Waste’EuropeNow,
Metuzals, J. and Hird, M.J. (2018) ‘ “The Disease that Knowledge Must Cure?” Sites of Uncertainty in Uranium mining in Arctic Development’, Arctic Yearbook, pp.1-17.
Hird, M.J. ‘Putting it all Together: A Day in Puchuncavi and Reflections on Contamination’, Environmental Humanities, 10(1): 187-212.
Lougheed, S., Metuzals, J. and Hird, M.J. (2017b) ‘Modes of Governing Canadian Waste Management: A Case Study of Metro Vancouver’s Energy-from-Waste Controversy’, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, pp. 1-14. ISSN: 1523-908X (Print) 1522-7200. Online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2017.1343137
Lougheed, S. C., & Hird, M. J. (2017a). Food security and secure food in the Anthropocene. Crime, Law and Social Change, 40(7), 739. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-017-9699-x
Hird, M.J. ‘How do We Help the Environment?’ in Hird, M.J. and Pavlich, G. (eds.) Questioning Sociology: Canadian Perspectives. Third Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2016, pages forthcoming.
Hird, M.J. ‘Burial and Resurrection in the Anthropocene: Instrastructures of Waste’ in P. Harvey, C. Bruun Jensen and A. Morita (eds.) Infrastructures and Social Complexity: A Routledge Companion (forthcoming).
Hird, M.J. ‘Waste Legacies: Land, Waste, and Canada’s DEW Line’, Northern Research, 42: 173-195.
Lougheed, S., Hird, M.J., and Rowe, R.K. ‘Governing Household Waste Management: An Empirical Analysis and Critique’ Environmental Values, 25:3. doi: 10.3197/096327116X14598445991420.
Hird, M.J. ‘The Phenomenon of Waste World Making’ in 'Quantum Possibilities: The Work of Karen Barad' special issue of rhizomes: Cultural Studies in Emerging Knowledge (forthcoming).
Zahara, A. and Hird, M.J. ‘Raven, Dog, Human: Inhuman Colonialism and Unsettling Cosmologies’, ‘Learning How to Inherit in Colonized and Ecologically Challenged Lifeworlds’ special issue of Environmental Humanities, 2015, 7: 169-190. Available online:
Hird, M.J. ‘Waste, Environmental Politics and Dis/Engaged Publics’ in N. Clark and K. Yusoff (eds.) ‘Geo-Social Formations’ special issue of Theory, Culture and Society, 2015, pages forthcoming.
Hird, M.J. ‘In/human Waste Environments’ 'Queer Inhumanisms' special issue of GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. , 2014, 21(2-3): 213-215.
Hird, M.J. ‘Waste Flows’, The Discard Studies Compendium (in press). See
Clark, N. and Hird, M.J. ‘Deep Shit’, E. Joy and L. Bryant (eds.) ‘Objects/Ecology’ special issue of O-Zone: A Journal of Object-Oriented Studies, 2014, 1:44-52. ISSN:2326-8344.
Hird, M.J. ‘Planetary Messmates: Engaging with Elizabeth Mazzolini and Philip Olson on the Topic of Waste’, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, 2013, 2(10): 52-57.
Hird, M.J. ‘Is Waste Indeterminacy Useful? A response to Zsuzsa Gille’, Social Epistemology, 2013, 2(6): 28-33. ISSN 0269-1728 (print)/ISSN 1464-5297 (online).
Hird, M.J. ‘Waste, Landfills, and an Environmental Ethics of Vulnerability’, Ethics and the Environment, 2013, 18(1): 105-124. ISSN: 1085-6633.
Hird, M.J. ‘Knowing Waste: Toward an Inhuman Epistemology’, Social Epistemology, 2012, 26(3-4): 453-469. ISSN 0269-1728 (print)/ISSN 1464-5297 (online).
Chapters in Books -
Hird, M.J. and Yusoff, K. ‘Lines of Shite: Microbial-Mineral Chatter in the Anthropocene’ R. Braidotti, and S. Bignall (eds.) Posthuman Ecologies and Deleuzian Philosophy. Rowman and Littlefield, pp.265-282.
Hird, M.J. and Kuyvenhoven, C. ‘Waste Transporation and the Downstream-Recycle, Upstream-Reduce Equation: Waste’s Management Within Neoliberal Capitalism’ in R. Ek (ed) Opening the Bin, Cambridge Scholars Press, pp. 77-95.
Clark, N. and Hird, M.J. ‘Microontologies and the Politics of Strata’ in M. Coleman and J. Agnew (eds.) Geographies of Power. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 245-258.
Hird, M.J. and Zahara, A. (2017) ‘The Arctic Wastes’ in Grusin, R. (ed) Anthropocene Feminism. University of Minnesota Press, pp.121-145.
Hird, M.J. (2017) ‘Burial and Resurrection in the Anthropocene: Instrastructures of Waste’ in P. Harvey, C. Bruun Jensen and A. Morita (eds.) Infrastructures and Social Complexity: A Routledge Companion.
Hird, M.J. (2017) ‘Proliferation-Extinction-Anxiety and the Anthropocene Aesthetic’ in J. Weinstein and C. Colebrook (eds.) Inhuman Life and Posthuman Rights. Columbia University Press, pp. 251-270.
Hird, M.J. (2016) ‘The Phenomenon of Waste World Making’ in K. Sellberg, and P. Hinton (eds.) Rhizomes: Cultural Studies in Emerging Knowledge, 30, http://www.rhizomes.net/issue30/
Hird, M.J. and Yusoff, K. (2015) ‘Subtending Relations: Bacteria, Geology, and the Possible in the Anthropocene’ in S. Malik and A. Ananessian (eds.) Genealogies of Speculation, New York: Bloomsbury Press pp. 319-342.
Datasets -
Hird, Myra J; Lougheed, Scott C; Kuyvenhoven, Cassandra; Rowe, R Kerry. Perspectives on Municipal Waste Management in Kingston, Ontario, 2012.
Keynote Lectures and Invited Talks
Hope Town Zero Waste
Juliette Deal
March 2018
(Hope Town Association Zero Waste Program Launch, Elbow Cay, Abaco.
Settler Colonialism and Canadian Waste: Issues of Self-determination and Responsibility
James Wilkes and Myra J. Hird
December 2017
Mineral Forum, SLU,
Uppsala, Sweden
Canada’s Waste Flow
Myra Hird
March 2017
Université Lumière Lyon 2, Institut d'urbanisme de Lyon, France
Infrastructures of Waste
Myra Hird
December 2017
ASCA Cities Research Seminar, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Deep Shit
Myra Hird
November 2017
Center for Medical Science and Technology Studies and the associated Graduate Programme in Medicine Culture and Society, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Food Regulation: The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread or Just Plain Nuts!
Scott Lougheed
January 2017
Atlantic Conference on Public Administration. Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Metabolizing the Planet
Myra Hird
November 2017
Mind the Gut Symposium,
Medical Museum,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Microontologies of Waste, and the Radical Asymmetry of a Stratified Planet
Myra Hird
October 2016
Institute for the Arts and Humanities
Penn State University
The Up- and Down-stream Flows of Waste: Reflecting on Waste within Neo-liberal Capitalism
Myra Hird
October 2017
Des Déchets à l’économie circulaire: Publics, politiques et engagements citoyens’, EVS, Universite de Lyon, France
Data Management: Not a waste of time
Scott Lougheed
May 2015
Second Annual Data Day, Queen’s University Library. Kingston, Ontario.
Trans Animalities: Inhuman Waste
Myra Hird
October 2015
Tema Genus, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Burial and Ressurection in the Anthropocene: Infrastructures of Waste
Myra Hird
October 2015
Santiago, Chile
Governing the Inorganic: Materials, Infrastructures and Care Conference
Burial and Ressurrection in the Anthropocene
Myra Hird
October 2015
Tema Technology and Social Change, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Waste, Environmental Politics, and Dis/Engaged Publics
Myra Hird
February 2015
California State University, Pasadena, United States
Learning How to Inherit in Colonized and Ecologically Challenged Lifeworlds Interdisciplinary Symposium
Wast(ED): Colonial Legacies in the Anthropocence
Myra Hird
September 2014
University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
Learning How to Inherit in Colonized and Ecologically Challenged Lifeworlds Interdisciplinary Symposium
Proliferation-Extinction-Anxiety and the Anthropocene Aesthetic
Myra Hird
June 2014
Oxford University of London, London, UK
Leverhulme Trust Lecture
Waste-Colonialism
Myra Hird
May 2014
Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Life Matters Conference – Closed Workshop, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
On Preparations: Learning and Teaching Materiality
Myra Hird
June 2013
Stockholm University, Stockholm
Myra Hird keynotes at Developing Feminist Post-Constructivist Qualitative Research Methodologies in the Educational Sciences.
Sex Matters on a Sociable Planet
Myra Hird
April 2013
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Science in Society Program, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
Disturbing Messmates and Becomings Indeterminate: Geobio Forces in Waste Flows
Myra Hird
Lancaster University, Faculty of Science & Technology
Microlife: Waste Flow, Care, and an Ethic of Vulnerability
Myra Hird
Tema Genus, Linkoping University
Conversations with the More than Human
Myra Hird
November 2011
American Anthropological Association, Montreal
the American Anthropological Association (AAA) is the world's largest organization of individuals interested in anthropology.
Waste, Environmental Politics, and Dis/Engaged Publics
Myra Hird
April 2015
Geography Department, University of Edinburgh
Material Flows in the Anthropocene
Myra Hird
February 2015
Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
G14 Conference: Challenging Power bringing together the broad and interdisciplinary field of Swedish gender research. The conference facilitated critical analysis, exchange of experiences and new research constellations, as well as to stimulate research cooperation between different academic disciplines.
What Was the Anthropocene?
Myra Hird
September 2014
Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Myra Hird is visiting professor at Tema Genus Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. Here she speaks as part of the Autumn Seminar Series.
What Was the Anthropocene?
Myra Hird
June 2014
Oxford University of London, London, UK
Leverhulme Trust Lecture
Relations of Waste World-Making
Myra Hird
April 2014
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
Myra Hird speaks at Anthropocene Feminism, Center for 21st Century Studies.
Indifferent Globality
Myra Hird
June 2013
Copenhagen, Denmark
Myra Hird speaking at the Constructions of Globality: Ideas, Images and Artefacts Conference. in Denmark
Sex Matters on a Sociable Planet
Myra Hird
April 2013
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Myra Hird speaks as a guest of the Institute for Research on Women, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
Feminist Theory and the Inhuman
Myra Hird
November 2012
McGill University, Montreal
Myra Hird speaks at the Feminist Theory Conference at McGill University
Microlife: Waste Flow, Care,
and an Ethic of Vulnerability
Myra Hird
April 2012
Gender Studies Department, Sodertorn, Sweden.
Myra Hird speaks as a guest of the Gender Studies Department, Sodertorn, Sweden.
Diversity and Asymmetry at the Biophysical, Biocultural, and Biodigital Strata
Myra Hird
June 2011
Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich.
Waste, Environmental Politics, and Dis/Engaged Publics
Myra Hird
October 2014
Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland
Learning How to Inherit in Colonized and Ecologically Challenged Lifeworlds Interdisciplinary Symposium
Waste, Environmental Politics and Dis/Engaged Publics
Myra Hird
September 2014
Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Myra Hird is visiting professor at Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Metabolizing Strata: Proliferation and Diversification Underground
Myra Hird
May 2014
Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
This conference aims to delve into exactly that shape-shifting plasticity of life by intersecting it with the phenomena of sex, sexuality, affect, and control.
Waste and Environmental Politics in the Shadow of Terminal Capitalism
Myra Hird
December 2013
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Leverhulme Trust Lecture, Lancaster Environment Center, Centre for Science Studies, and Center for Gender Studies.
Global visions: Environmental Responsibility Without Limits
Myra Hird
June 2013
Copenhagen, Denmark
Myra Hird speaking at the Constructions of Globality: Ideas, Images and Artefacts Conference. in Denmark
Waste: Uncertainty, Futurity, and Democratic Engagement
Myra Hird
April 2013
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
Myra Hird speaks as a guest of the Science in Society Program at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
Canada’s Waste Flow: Uncertain Futures
Myra Hird
November 2012
McGill School of Environment, Montreal
Myra Hird speaks as a guest of the McGill School of Environment, Montreal.
Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences
Myra Hird
May/June 2012
McGill University, Montreal
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is the premiere destination for Canada’s scholarly community.
Exuberant Waste: Bacterial Agency and the Post-Natural Ecologies of Landfill
Myra Hird
Myra Hird at the American Association of Geographers Annual Conference. [...]
Toward an Ethic of Vulnerability
Myra Hird
May 2011
Lancaster University, UK
Masters Level Short Course - Feminist Technoscience Studies: Articulating the human and the non-human.
Recalling, Recovering, (Re)cycling, and Rendering: The Metabolism of the Industrial Food System
Lougheed, S.
October 2014
International Conference on Food Studies, Prato, Italy
An interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of agricultural, environmental, nutritional, health, social, economic and cultural perspectives on food.
Conferences, Poster Presentations and Blogs
Lines of Shite: Traversing Plateaus in Microbial-Mineral Evolution
Myra J. Hird
April 2018
American Association of Geography Conference, New Orleans, USA.
Sites of Uncertainty: Exploring Conflicted, Imagined Futures of Baker Lake, NU.
June 2017
Environmental Studies Association of Canada annual Conference
The Wastes of Biopolitical Food Safety Governance
Lougheed, S.
April 2016
Annual Association of Geographers, San Francisco
Innovative Solutions to Canada’s Waste Management Problem: Comparing Local Versus Remote Waste Transportation
Kuyvenhoven, C.
April 15
International Conference on Food Studies, Prato, Italy
Paper presentation at the American Association of Geographers
The Risks to Human and Environmental Health and Safety in the Transportation of Canadian Municipal Solid Waste
Kuyvenhoven, C.
April 2014
Tampa, Florida
Paper presentation at the American Association of Geographers Panel on Waste Regimes.
Moving Waste Around: The Impacts of Waste Transportation from an Environmental Sociology Perspective
Kuyvenhoven, C.
August 2013
St. John’s, NFLD
Paper presentation at the Canadian Association of Geographers Special Session on Waste and Indeterminacy
Interviews
Sites of Uncertainty: Exploring Conflicted, Imagined Futures of Baker Lake, NU.
April 2017
Poster presentation, Queen’s northern Research Symposium
A Critical examination of the state of incineration in Canada
Metuzals, J.
October 2014
Poster Presentation in Think Share Learn Discover.
The Environmental Impacts of Canadian Waste Transportation: From a Risk and Uncertainty Perspective
Kuyvenhoven, C.
June 2014
Reykjavik, Iceland
Paper presentation at the Conference on Climate Change: Impacts and Responses
Waste Regimes: The Material and Political Waste Which We Live by in Different Localities
Kuyvenhoven, C.
April 2014
Tampa, Florida
Panel presentation at the American Association of Geographers Panel on Waste Regimes.
The Construction of ‘Waste’ in Cheese Production
Lougheed, S.
June 2012
Waterloo, Ontario
Paper presentation at the Canadian Sociological Association, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Videos
Legislating Canadian Disposal at Sea: Implications for the Northwest Passage
Kuyvenhoven, C. and Zahara, A.
May 2014
Brock University. St. Catharines, ON
Cassandra Kuyvenhovenand Alexander Zahara present at the Canadian Association of Geographers annual conference.
The Value of Whey: Networks and Social Lives of Things
Lougheed, S.
October 2013
International Conference on Food Studies, Austin, Texas
An interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of agricultural, environmental, nutritional, health, social, economic and cultural perspectives on food.
Events