Sumayya Vally, Ingesting Architectures – The Understory of the Understory

Summary

The transcript traces Johannesburg’s history through dust, air, and human activity, revealing how geological, industrial, and social forces intertwine. From meteor-driven gold deposits billions of years ago to colonial mining, toxic industrialization, and modern environmental exposure, the city’s soil and atmosphere carry legacies of labor, exploitation, disease, and death. Layers of dust and mine dumps preserve historical artifacts, human remains, and chemical residues, while contemporary communities continue to interact with these spaces through ritual, remediation, and daily life. The narrative portrays Johannesburg as a living archive, where breathing the air is literally absorbing the intertwined histories of nature, human activity, and social inequities.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Johannesburg’s landscape carries deep historical and geological layers, from meteor strikes depositing gold to contemporary mine dumps.
• 💨 The air and dust in Johannesburg act as carriers of collective human and environmental histories, including disease, pollution, and exploitation.
• 🏭 Industrialization and mining introduced severe environmental toxins, such as silica, sulfurized gases, and heavy metals, impacting human health.
• ⚖️ Racialized policies like the 1923 Natives Land Act placed Black populations near toxic industrial zones, exacerbating health risks.
• ⛏️ Gold mining since 1886 relied on forced labor, exposing workers to silicosis, tuberculosis, and high mortality rates.
• 🪦 Archaeological findings, including unmarked graves and historical artifacts, reveal hidden and forgotten histories of exploitation.
• ☁️ John Ruskin observed 19th-century 'plague-winds', highlighting early recognition of human-induced environmental changes.
• 🙏 Contemporary communities, such as Masowe churches, repurpose mine dumps for ritual practices, blending spiritual and historical engagement with toxic landscapes.
• 🧬 Breathing in Johannesburg literally means ingesting past legacies, including dust from human, industrial, and geological activity.
• ⏳ The transcript emphasizes temporal layering, connecting geological events, historical exploitation, and modern urban dynamics in a single narrative.
• ⚠️ Environmental and social violence are intertwined, as toxic landscapes continue to shape health, culture, and urban life in Johannesburg.
• 🌱 Nature and human intervention coexist on mine dumps, where remediation efforts and spontaneous vegetation illustrate resilience amidst toxicity.

Q & A

What is the central theme of the transcript?

The transcript explores the entanglement of environmental, historical, and social violence in Johannesburg, showing how human labor, industrial activity, and geological processes have left physical and toxic imprints that continue to affect the city's inhabitants.

How does the transcript describe the relationship between humans and the environment in Johannesburg?

It portrays humans as inseparable from their environment, emphasizing that breathing the dust and air in Johannesburg means literally ingesting the legacies of exploitation, industrial activity, and historical trauma.

Who was John Ruskin and what did he observe about the 19th-century atmosphere?

John Ruskin was a social thinker who, in 1884, observed unusual cloud phenomena in Europe, calling it the 'Storm-Cloud of the 19th Century' or 'plague-wind.' He suggested that these atmospheric changes reflected industrial pollution and early anthropogenic climate change.

What role did gold mining play in Johannesburg's history according to the transcript?

Gold mining drove industrialization and urban growth but also resulted in forced labor, exploitation of African and Chinese workers, toxic environmental conditions, and widespread diseases such as silicosis and tuberculosis.

How did legislation like the 1923 Natives Land Act impact Johannesburg’s environment and society?

The Act segregated Black populations into areas near mines and industrial waste, exposing them to toxic dust and hazardous conditions while creating cleaner, greener buffer zones for white residents, reinforcing structural inequalities.

What evidence of historical exploitation and trauma is revealed by mine dumps?

Mine dumps reveal human bones, porcelain, and industrial waste, serving as physical archives of past labor exploitation, deaths from mining accidents and disease, and the erasure of marginalized histories.

How does the transcript relate dust and soil to human experience?

Dust and soil are described as carriers of history, toxins, and human remains. Inhaling them connects people physiologically to past exploitations, mining activity, and environmental degradation, making the act of breathing a metaphor for shared trauma.

What does the transcript reveal about contemporary uses of mine dumps?

Today, mine dumps are sites of informal trade, housing, ritual practices, and recreational activities like sandboarding, showing how human activity continues to adapt to and interact with toxic landscapes.

What is meant by 'accelerated geology' in the context of Johannesburg?

'Accelerated geology' refers to the rapid, human-driven transformation of the landscape, such as mine dumps and waste heaps, which erode and reveal historical artifacts and toxic materials at a pace far faster than natural geological processes.

How does the transcript connect the COVID-19 pandemic to the historical environmental narrative?

The pandemic is used metaphorically to illustrate how humans collectively ingest and circulate environmental and historical residues, similar to how SARS-CoV-2 spreads invisibly through the air, emphasizing interconnectedness and shared vulnerability.

What philosophical reflections does the transcript offer about humans and the earth?

It highlights the intimate connection between humans and the earth, referencing 'Kullukum li Adam wa aadam min turab' ('Everyone is from Adam and Adam is from dust'), and critiques the violence of separating people from the land while exploiting and contaminating it.

What are some of the toxic substances identified in Johannesburg’s soil and air across different periods?

The transcript mentions nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, dust, SARS-CoV-2, sulfur gases (SO₂, H₂S, CS₂), uranium, mercury, radon, arsenic, sulfuric acid, silica, hydroxyapatite, nickel, and various oxides and heavy metals, reflecting environmental and industrial contamination over time.