Thread by @raulpacheco

Yesterday, my dear friend Dr Giovanni Mantilla, @giofabman requested suggestions on examples of good books, so he could write the conclusions chapter of his book, by drawing inspiration on the works of others. Soon as my iPhone charges, I’m going to do a thread on these:

I purposefully chose 4 books on water and 4 books on waste because (a) I don't have the time to do a thread on methodology or on sanitation books, (b) every book author I chose is on Twitter (so they can respond to my tweetage if they so choose!) (c) 8 books should be enough!

On waste:

Waste Away by @JOziasReno ucpress.edu/book/978052028…

Picking Up by @rznagle
amazon.com/Picking-Up-Str…

Clean and White by @carlzimring
nyupress.org/9781479826940/

Reassembling Rubbish, by @rubbishmaker
mitpress.mit.edu/books/reassemb…

On water:

Beyond the Big Ditch, by @acarse
mitpress.mit.edu/books/beyond-b…

Governing the Tap, by @mullinmeg
mitpress.mit.edu/books/governin…

Water & Politics, by @veromsherrera
press.umich.edu/9210462/water_…

Just Water, by @christyzen
orbisbooks.com/just-water-en.…

I am going to make very brief notes about what I see as defining characteristics of a good concluding chapter of a book:

- It tells me, in summary form, what the author learned and also, what I SHOULD HAVE learned had I read the book from beginning to end.

- It tells me the "surprises", the "plot twists", the "coda", the "afterthoughts". "After doing all this research on waste/water, I am left pondering about where to go from here. I advance a few propositions here".

- "When I began this book, I expected X. Lo & behold, I got Y"

In his conclusion, @JOziasReno shows us what we didn’t know about landfill workers and what we should have learned when reading his book. How his conceptual framework sheds light into our understanding of waste disposal workers and their lives.

In a brief couple of paragraphs, @rznagle powerfully explains to us why sanitation workers are literally, LIFE workers. We can potentially live without ever needing to call a fireman. We NEED sanitation workers on an everyday basis.

Why do we need to understand the history of environmental racism in the US? @CarlZimring ‘s last few paragraphs are riveting: they tell us that we are in for a reckoning if we don’t recognize the historical roots of how pervasive environmental racism has been in the US

.@rubbishmaker ‘s concluding chapter posits specific measures to reduce electronic waste globally. This is another excellent model of concluding chapter: “here’s what I learned about e-waste by researching this book, and what I think we can do to tackle this issue”

As you saw, I summarized conclusions from two anthropologists, a historian and a human geographer. For my water books, I chose two authors who are squarely political scientists, one anthropologist and a theologian/ethicist who works in interdisciplinary spaces.

Something I loved from @mullinmeg’s conclusion was how she linked back to every global insight in the book’s chapters to the core analysis: how do we understand the local politics of water and what are our policy options? Linking back to chapters helps cement the argument.

In his conclusion, @acarse links back to his introductory chapter and the core message of the book: the Panama Canal requires more than infrastructure: it necessitates water and workers and policies and pumps. Powerful return to the core idea: more than a big ditch.

While I’m only showing here one page, @veromsherrera ‘s concluding chapter is chock full of connections between her findings, a summary of her argument, and the implications of her research, both for policy makers and for the fields of water governance and comparative politics

And finally, @christyzen, in her concluding chapter (aptly named “Coda”) walks us through the core ideas she wanted us to get out of the book. It’s both a lesson in water conservation and the ethics of using, preserving, wasting and governing water.

As someone who is finishing three scholarly books at the same time (don't ask), doing these kinds of threads is also useful TO ME. I often go back to my own blog posts and follow either my own advice or the suggestions other people make that I cite in my blog. My hope is...

... that my reading of these books and highlighting of their concluding chapters will be helpful to all of us who are in the midst of getting those babies out. I could have used MANY other books I have read (my personal library on campus has about 1,000 volumes), but ...

... it's impractical and also, I have a life and a number of articles and book to finish. Hopefully this thread will be useful, and I'll be copying it into my blog for permanent storage. </end thread>