In Refusing Sustainability: Race and Environmentalism in a Changing Europe (Stanford University Press, 2025), anthropologist Elana Resnick draws on two decades of research in Bulgaria and sustained fieldwork in Romani communities. She lived and worked alongside the people she studied, including nearly a year as a contracted street sweeper in Sofia on a team of 40 Romani women.
Resnick reports that the work exposed women to danger and abuse: passersby shouted slurs and sometimes threw lit cigarette butts at their uniforms, and supervisors watched the workers closely. From these observations she develops the concept of a waste-race nexus: people treated as disposable and the waste they handle become mutually reinforcing categories.
She argues that EU membership pushed Bulgaria to upgrade waste and recycling systems, yet Roma people often do the visible labor that makes those standards possible. Street sweeping also created space for public life, and small acts of solidarity—what Resnick calls a refusal politics—help people resist exclusion. The book does not give a single solution; instead it urges recognition of the systems that link environmental policy to long-standing racial orders and notes the relevance of these dynamics beyond Bulgaria.
Difficult words
- anthropologist — A person who studies human cultures.
- contract — To employ someone under a fixed agreement.contracted
- slur — An insulting or offensive spoken remark.slurs
- supervisor — A person who watches and directs workers.supervisors
- waste-race nexus — A system linking waste and racial treatment.
- solidarity — Support and unity between people or groups.
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Can you think of small acts of solidarity that could help people who face exclusion in your community? Give one example and explain why it might help.
- How important is it for a researcher to live and work alongside the people they study? What are the possible benefits or problems?
- Do you think improving environmental systems alone will stop social exclusion? Why or why not?
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