Gender, Luxury, Waste: New Intersections in Southern Consumption Theory

“This project will bring together original, recently completed empirical work examining cultural and media dimensions of three key facets of contemporary consumer culture in the global south, with a view to generating new theory relevant to consumption in the global south. Since 2017 I have been undertaking empirical and analytical work in three key areas: luxury and aspirations towards it, different forms of waste which are left behind after consumption takes place, and the ways in which gender articulates with consumption (including its iterations in luxury and waste). During the course of the proposed fellowship I will be seeking deep theoretical resonance across and between the three empirical areas, such that new theories and conceptual frameworks can be generated for the understanding of consumption, the material life of commodities, and consumer identities in global south contexts. The fellowship will provide a much needed opportunity for synthetic conceptual work that will extend and develop the wide range of empirical approaches that I have completed to date, as well as forge new research frameworks for the field of critical consumption studies.”