The city of Houston is one of the four largest megacities in the USA, astonishingly diverse (humans and nonhumans included) and astonishingly unknown. Houston a hyperobject whose haphazard, ramshackle brokenness rivals Beirut in some senses and London in others. It is a place whose structurally right-wing libertarian politics coexists with the worst features of the five hundred years of slavery and its legacy, the historical moment that is the principal driver of the Anthropocene. This is despite the fact that the humans in Houston vote consistently in the upper ninetieth percentile for Democrats whenever there is an election. In this lecture Tim will be showcasing what he has been doing for ten years to understand, cope with and modify Houston. He will be focusing in particular on his work with urban farming collectives, and his ongoing dialogue with the property owners in his neighborhood to abolish that persistent, ecocidal and structurally racist entity, the American lawn.
Watch guest lecture Tim Morton on the UI YouTube channel
