* prelims
Welcome
to the online publication page for
THE SOAS
SHIT READER
Papers arising out of the
conference
'Merde Alors! An interdisciplinary conference
on
excrement, past, present and future'
held at
the
[SOAS,
on
21-22 October 2023
Photo:
River
CONTENTS OF THE BOOK
[In alphabetical order of authors]
The book is also available in printed
format from all good booksellers, and copies are lodged with the national
libraries.
00. Preface
Elizabeth Hull [Food Studies Centre,
00. Introduction
Ed Emery [SOAS,
01. Sanitation, culture, and civilisation in the Arab East: a historical and ecological
reflection
Amal Al-Jubouri
[SOAS, University of London] [Download full article]
02. Breaking the silence on
gendered sanitation taboos across urban Africa
Adriana Allen [University College
London] [Abstract] [Download full article]
03.
The truth about manual scavenging in India
Asad
Ashraf [Independent researcher] [Download full
article]
04. 'Boys will be boys': the putto pissatore
in European Renaissance art
Charles Avery [Independent researcher] [Abstract] [Download full article]
05. Colour,
cloth, colonialism: the alchemy of shit and piss
John Barker [Independent
researcher] [Abstract] [Download full
article]
06. Keeping soils healthy with shit: what
we can learn from Chinese farmers
Nicole Elizabeth Barnes [Duke University] [Download full
article]
07. Cess
pits and society: defecation as an indicator of social evolution and
organisation
John Collis [University of Sheffield]
[Abstract] [Download full
article]
08. The 'Dirty Strike' of Irish
Republican prisoners in British jails, 1976-81
Ed Emery [SOAS, University of London]
[Abstract] [Download full article]
09. The remarkable preservation of
excrement in the archaeological record and what can be done with it
Eleanor Green [University of York and
Natural History Museum, London] [Abstract] [Download full article]
10. Shit and Civilisation
- Western reports on nightsoil in 18th and 19th
century China
Joerg H. Huesemann [Leipzig University] [Abstract] [Download full
article]
11. Brown Gold? Reconciling
existing practices and new innovations for shit re-use
Lyla Mehta
(Institute of Development Studies) and Tanvi Bhatkal (Institute of Development Studies), et al. [Abstract] [Download full article]
12. 'Shit business is serious
business': Isaac Durojaiye Agbetusin
('Otunba Gaddafi') and the business of mobile toilets
in Lagos (Nigeria) since the 1990s
Ayodeji Olukoju [University of Lagos] [Abstract] [Download full article]
13.
Questions of economics and hygiene: Recovering and using excrement in Italian
cities and countryside in the late 19th century
Manuel Vaquero Pineiro
[University of Perugia] and Luciano
Maffi [University of Parma] [Abstract]
[Download
full article]
14. Poo in climate activism
Claire Preston [Little Blue Dot] [Download full
article]
15. A request for poo donations
Daniel Roberts [National Poo Museum] [Download full article]
16. How latrines lost the war:
Race, waste, disease, and demoralisation in the
Confederate army
Benjamin Roy [University of Georgia]
[Abstract] [Download full article]
17. Take a break: traces
of social behaviour in Portuguese factory toilets
Joao Sequeira (University of Minho] and Tania Casimiro [NOVA
University of Lisbon] [Download
full article]
18. Dump
and pump: The impact of COVID-19 and income on septic system pumping patterns
in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia
Julia Sharapi [University of Georgia] [Abstract] [Download full
article]
19. Shitological Marxism: Political
subjectivities among the sanitation workers of Mumbai
Ahwar Sultan [Ohio State University ] [Abstract]
[Download full
article]
__________
Appendix 1: A small collection of
Shit Songs from around the world [Download full article]
Appendix 2: The Birth of the Villeyn [Dario Fo]
[Download full article]
Appendix 3: The land impoverished
by the sea [Victor Hugo] [Download full article]
____________________________________
FURTHER INFORMATION
Hosting: Our conference is hosted by the Food Studies Centre, SOAS, University of
London, and we extend our thanks to them.
Access the conference programme:
HERE
A small pre-Conference fanfare. You can access a surprising collection of Shit Songs from Around the World HERE
Conference
organiser and further information:
Discussion List: If you wish to join our