Declan Murray (University of Manchester) The Plastic Divide: Global environmentalism and the search for life in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| Dates: | 6 October 2025 |
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| Times: | 15:00 - 17:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Declan Murray |
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On 1 June 2019 plastic bags were banned in Tanzania. The ban was driven by a global environmentalist narrative that plastic bags harm marine life and livestock; contribute to flooding events; and produce unsightly litter. Five years later, small polyethylene pouches remained integral to daily life for the majority of residents in Tanzania’s biggest city, Dar es Salaam. Over 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork, residents, retailers and manufacturers all spoke positively of the role plastic bags play in their “search for life” in the city. This article introduces ‘The Plastic Divide’ as a way to understand the effects of the plastic bag ban in Tanzania. The Plastic Divide falls largely on class lines: between urban poor and middle/ruling class. Despite originally emerging from the Global South, blanket moves to ban plastics bring greater harm to the poorest who are most reliant on plastics and are least able to access alternatives.
Declan Murray is a Research Associate in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester, UK. Declan’s research looks at material flows, geomorphology and regulation in Eastern Africa. Declan is currently working on a UKRI-funded project called “High-rise landscapes: The afterlives of tower block ‘failure’ and rethinking urban futures”. In that project Declan has been following how quality is understood, tested and demonstrated in the concrete economy of Nairobi, Kenya. Previously Declan has worked on plastic packaging in Tanzania and solar power in Kenya. Declan’s first book: “The Repair Mindset: How to fix off-grid solar power in Kenya” will be published by Bristol University Press in 2026.
Speaker
Declan Murray
Organisation: University of Manchester
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Boardroom (2.016-17)
Arthur Lewis Building
Manchester
