New book by co-worker: "Post-Industrial Landscape Scars" by Anna Storm at Palgrave Macmillan

My co-worker Anna Storm in the WOK-UE project has just published the book "Post-Industrial Landscape Scars" at Palgrave Macmillan. This book is a fascinating read, providing and interpretation of what happens after modernity-inspired large-scale industries leave. She brings insightful readings of how to live with these heritages, these memories, etched in to the earth, the minds and sociological structures of these societies. Read more here. 

I also like the cover photo she has chosen. Somebody is flying in, seeing the huge gaping hole surely made by dynamite and machines, and the small houses in the foreground. You sense the generations of kids that have grown up and lived in these houses. And you see a road that (outside of the image) falls down the huge hole. Suggestive.

Post-Industrial Landscape Scars

By Anna Storm

Post-industrial landscape scars are traces of 20th century utopian visions of society; they relate to fear and resistance expressed by popular movements and to relations between industrial workers and those in power. The metaphor of the scar pinpoints the inherent ambiguity of memory work by signifying both positive and negative experiences, as well as the contemporary challenges of living with these physical and mental marks. In this book, Anna Storm explores post-industrial landscape scars caused by nuclear power production, mining, and iron and steel industry in Malmberget, Kiruna, Barsebäck and Avesta in Sweden; Ignalina and Visaginas/Sniečkus in Lithuania/former Soviet Union; and Duisburg in the Ruhr district of Germany. The scars are shaped by time and geographical scale; they carry the vestiges of life and work, of community spirit and hope, of betrayed dreams and repressive hierarchical structures. What is critical, Storm concludes, is the search for a legitimate politics of memory. The meanings of the scars must be acknowledged. Past and present experiences must be shared in order shape new understandings of old places.