Organizer: The Center for Southeast Asian Studies at University of Michigan

Description:

After the end of the US wars in Southeast Asia, Laos faded from historical and contemporary interest. Eighty million unexploded bombs remain in the soil, from more than 270 million bombs dropped in Laos over a period of nine years (1964‐1973). People in Laos have taken creative, critical, and sometimes deadly measures to extricate themselves from the large quantities of war metal embedded throughout the country. Some have recycled, melted, and transformed war metals into commodities for consumption, while others have collected and displayed empty bomb casings in their homes and businesses as a record of the US air war in Laos. Bringing together the relationship between war and the environment, this talk examines how cluster bomb metals are circulated and consumed, and how such actions shape life-making practices in the war’s aftermath.

Click here for more information.