Kate Parizeau

Programs

Geography
Social Practice and Transformational Change
Collaborative Specialization in One Health
Latin American & Caribbean Studies

About the research...

Dr. Kate Parizeau is interested in research questions concerning the social context of waste and its management. Her research uses waste management practices as a lens through which to interrogate complex systems of social organization and human exchanges with the natural world. Research projects include food waste, informal recycling, and relationships between waste and social inequalities.

How the research improves life...

Most discussions of waste focus on the end-of-pipe treatment of materials that are already designated for disposal. However, waste is not just a technical issue, but also a social phenomenon. In order to address this complex issue, we must understand waste as socially-situated: its generation is influenced by policy, institutions, economic cues, and culture.