Air, the atmospheric, and beings in a gaseous state are topics that are most easy to overlook in the ways we think about the environment. As a state of matter, air/gas is part of our most intimate, internal nature, but it is also an interface that connects us with other beings at many scales, from the breath and exaltations we share with others in daily lives and routines, to the atmosphere that connects us on a global level.

Besides not having a conventionally-accepted shape or volume, air/gas, and the beings that inhabit this state of matter, have the peculiarity of not always being visible. Smoke-like forms, vapors, plume, flames, or iridescent molecules can make air/gas become visible to us. However, most of the time they go unnoticed, allowing us to think without them. Scientific imaginings become crucial in engaging with air/gas beyond the human sensorium. This opens up a heated space of asymmetric knowledge-making, disquiet and even contestation.

In this panel, we will raise questions about human interactions with things that come in a gaseous state, from the most nurturing to the most toxic. How does air/gas mediate relations both among humans and of humans with other beings? How can ethnography productively engage with such an invisible and ubiquitous state? What are the most notorious ecological materializations, personal embodiments, and social instantiations of living in, through, and from air/gas? Through the various contributions of panelists, we explore narratives and logics of gaseous control, infrastructure, and change.

Some examples of possible interventions are:

-Scientific vs. non scientific engagements with air/gas properties.

-Air/gas as a human-altered interface of life . 

-Air/gas as a pollutant that requires management at medical, infrastructural and ecological scales.

-Sociotechnical challenges for balancing atmospheric air/gas chemistry.

-Air/gas as a commodity and a tool of financialization of nature (e.g. carbon credits).

-Air/gas as an ecopolitical arena.

-Air/gas as a weapon.

-Health issues related to sharing air/gas in human and more-than-human contexts.

Please send your 200-word abstract and a short 50-word bio to the emails

 EnviroAnt.Network@gmail.com  and Easaholbnetwork@gmail.com by 15 May 2023.