This research cluster features a small sampling of resources that engage with the various threads informing Abhishek Hazra’s video-work The Aerosol Chronicles Capture Omlojan and have shaped the research process behind the work. Some of the links here are also connected to the work of the activists and scientists featured in the podcast authored by Aruna Chandrasekhar. While this Research Cluster does touch upon multiple fields and discourses, the pointers shared here are however only indicative and do not in any way attempt to be comprehensive.

Even within the context of India, the exposure to toxicity is mediated by intersectional identities, with indigenous (Adivasi) and Dalit bodies bearing the brunt of it; Mukul Sharma’s video lecture expands on this, as does Amita Baviskar’s book, Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi. Another line of inquiry looks into the history of our planet and the sort of lifeforms that proliferated prior to humans to think about the atmosphere through the lens of deep time, in order to bring attention to the urgencies of today. Some of the other themes examined relate to histories of creating and deploying scientific knowledge within colonial contexts, contestations between indigenous practices and industrial encroachment on land, and inquiries into the political ecology and public health effects of air pollution in India.