The art of unnoticing: Risk perception and contrived ignorance in China

Lou, Loretta Ieng Tak

doi:10.1111/amet.13099

The art of unnoticing: Risk perception and contrived ignorance in China

Lou, Loretta Ieng Tak

Authors

Dr Loretta Lou ieng.t.lou@durham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor

Abstract

In China many petrochemical plants are adjacent to residential areas. Despite this, the people who live in these areas appear indifferent to the threat of toxic pollution and chemical explosions, even though they are aware of the danger. Building on historical and social studies of ignorance, I show how residents in a southern Chinese city live with the threat of petrochemicals by practicing what I call the “art of unnoticing,” a contrived form of ignorance that enables them to live with the reality of pollution and reclaim their agency in face of the unavoidable. In light of this, I reflect on the limit and complexity of the global environmental justice when willful ignorance is at work. The next step forward is to understand what it is that people are unnoticing, as well as what unnoticing can do to people's lifeworlds.

Citation

Lou, L. I. T. (2022). The art of unnoticing: Risk perception and contrived ignorance in China. American Ethnologist, 49(4), 580-594. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.13099

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Sep 17, 2022
Publication Date	2022-11
Deposit Date	Sep 17, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Mar 16, 2023
Journal	American Ethnologist
Print ISSN	0094-0496
Electronic ISSN	1548-1425
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	49
Issue	4
Pages	580-594
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.13099
Related Public URLs	https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.13099

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© 2022 The Authors. American Ethnologist published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Anthropological Association

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