The Funambulist No. 14 2017

Toxic Atmospheres consists in a different approach to space and bodies to the strictly physical one usually described in The Funambulist. Its editorial argument draws on the concepts of “being-in-the-breathable” (Peter Sloterdijk), “the weather” (Christina Sharpe), and “combat breathing” (Frantz Fanon) to resolutely politicize what is usually approached through an environmentalist perspective. The toxicity described throughout its pages are the atmospheric conditions of colonialism, imperialism, and/or capitalism. 

This includes the use of weaponized chemical agents such as teargas (Dariouche Tehrani) or agent orange (Ylan Vo), colonial and nationalist political programs testing and mobilizing nuclear weapons (Samia Henni) or energy (Lisa Torio), methane pollution as a part of US settler colonialism (Sonia Grant), the hegemonic designation of toxicity by European pharmaceutical companies (Chanelle Adams & Sarah Boisard), the need for Black microclimates of emancipated air (Christina Sharpe), a story on waste management in Lebanon (Jessika Khazrik), and a curing center on the US-Mexico border (Alexandra Cortez). The issue also contains political reports about the occupied Golan Heights (Aamer Ibraheem), LGBT organizing in Thailand (Patnarin “Trong” Wongkad), and the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and Australian detention camps (Imran Mohammad).